Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex
by Mutitoon90
Summary: Crash and his friends find out that Neo Cortex and Uka-Uka has freed the Elementals from their prison and activated the new superweapon! The small gang of friends must find the relics to seal the four powerful masks before the Elementals destroy their home and keep the superweapon from destroying Crash at the same time!
1. Chapter 1

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter One

Another morning greeted the Wumpa Islands as the majority of the island's citizens rose to start their day. Many of them planned on either working or playing, and a certain duo was planning on playing at the beach.

However, they planned on meeting up with a friend, who would rather sleep...

Three loud knocks echoed throughout the house and straight to Nathan Charles's ears, causing the poor young man to rise like a zombie and staggered to the front door. Upon opening the door, the male human saw the faces of his two dearest friends and most valued allies: Crash Bandicoot and Luna the werewolf, in her full human form and in a blue bikini.

"Whoa," Crash exclaimed upon seeing his friend's ragged appearance, "you don't look to good!"

"Very much like how he feels." Luna commented, looking worried about the only human male on the island.

"You can say that again, Luna." Nathan sighed out his answer, which was followed by a large yawn.

"Was it that nightmare again?" Luna inquiried, knowing well enough not to ask, but also hopeful enough to ask.

"The mask dream again." The black haired male confirmed with another yawn.

"Nathan," Crash spoke up, "can you make it to the beach?"

The question earned the bandicoot dark and unfriendly glares from the son of Napoleon Cortex and the wolfgirl.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Nathan responded to the bandicoot, "I don't know if I can, Crash. I'm just so tired."

"Yeah," the wolfgirl confirmed loudly, "it's like the fifth night in the row that you've had that damn nightmare."

"A little louder, Luna," Nathan growled at the werewolf, "I don't think they're heard you over at the next island!"

"Yeesh!" Luna backed from the human.

"Nathan, calm down." Crash said as he took the role of the voice of reason, "You're just tried, that's all it is."

"I know, but what do you expect?" Nathan sighed oout of exhaustion.

"Hey," Luna announced to her male companions, "I've got an idea!"

"An idea?" The good friends looked at each other with a worried expression on their faces; Luna tended to produce ideas that were good in intention but bad in results.

"Don't worry!" Luna said, somewhat reading the males' minds, "This'll work for sure!"

Then, Luna was off into the jungle, leaving Nathan and Crash extremely concerned about their safety.

"Keeping that promise is starting to look like a very bad idea." Nathan's stressed out facial expression described his feelings accurately: nearly-panic.

"Big time." Crash's face was twisted in fear and worry.

* * *

In the Earth's orbit, all was calm. In that distance, the oceans and the lands was a beautiful mixture of greens and blues with clouds of white and dark gray.

However, the peaceful moment was ruined by the sudden appearance of a satellite with a big 'N' on it. The letter was the official symbol for Doctor Neo Cortex, a self-proclaimed evil scientist, the creator and nemesis of Crash Bandicoot, as well as most of the animal residents of the Wumpa Islands, and the uncle of Nathan Charles.

Inside the metal, circuits and wires of the satellite, it was the complete opposite of the serene silence of space.

"Imbeciles!" Roared the growling voice of Uka-Uka, "Fools! Nincompoops!"

The ones that were receiving the fury-filled rants were Neo Cortex, Nefarious Tropy and N. Gin. They sat around a meeting table as they were hit by the evil mask's insults and complaints.

"Can't you idiots do anything right?! Your abilities of spreading evil is pathetic!"

"Uka-Uka!" Cortex defened himself and the other doctors, "It's not our fault! That wretched bandicoot is to blame!"

An animalistic growl escaped from the leader of the evil doctors before he spoke once again, "I will not let anything stand in our way of evil, espeically some orange, mutated marsupial! Crash must be eliminated!"

"Uh, Uka-Uka," N. Gin spoke up to the angry mask, "need I remind you that Crash always finds a way to defeat us? Maybe he's just too good for us."

"Enough excuses!" Demanded the magical mask, "You three idiots need to come up with one good plan! Or else..."

"How do I get myself into these situations?" Moaned Cortex as he rubbed his temples to relieve the headache that bothered him.

"There must be something we can come up with." N. Tropy thought out loud. Then, he looked at his yellow-skinned counterpart and posed a question.

"Say, 'Doctor,' haven't you been tinkering with some kind of new secret weapon in your laboratory?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, ." Cortex lied to his blue-skinned rival; whatever he was up to, the big-headed scientist does not want anyone above or equal to him finding out about it too soon.

"Doctor Cortex!" N. Gin shouted out, grabbing the attention of the others in the meeting much to Cortex's dismay, "I think he's in reference to the super, secret weapon you've been laboring over day and night since the last time Crash defeated you!"

"Enough talking!" The infuriated mask shouted out to the doctor with the unexploded rocket in his head, before glaring at Cortex and screaming in demand, "Do we have a plan!?"

Due to the sudden announcement of the weapon by N. Gin and N. Tropy's assumption of the weapon, Cortex had no choose but to announce the existance of the weapon.

"Well, in my scientific endeavors, I've been able to create a genetically advanced superweapon of unbelievable strength, but the power source is the final, missing, crucial element."

The evil spirit was about to to say something at the questionable strength of the weapon, when a certain word grabbed at a part of the mask's memory.

"Element... Elements... Yes... The Elementals!"

"Right!" Cortex grinned, even though his lacked any knowledge of the beings Uka-Uka was talking about, "The Elementals! That's it! If released, their destructive energy could create enough power to bring my secret weapon to life! We'll have a weapon capable of crushing mountains and demolishing entire cities!"

"And wiping Crash Bandicoot off the face of the Earth forever!" Uka-Uka shouted out, showing an evil smile.

Pleased of the dark mask's reaction, Cortex spoke out, "Get ready to face my wrath, Crash Bandicoot!" As the scientist talked, he slammed the table and laughed in a manic manner, seeing victory within his gloved hands' grisp.

* * *

"No!" Nathan sat up from a dead sleep.

The only thing met with the human was the peaceful scenery of the ocean and the beach. On the shore, there were himself on a blanket and under an umbrella, the Bandicoot Sisters sunbathing, Mario Potoroo on lifeguard duty and Aku-Aku watching Crash and Coco Bandicoot on the ocean and Pura playing with Polar by building a sand castle.

"Hey!" The dark-haired male realized something, "Where's Luna?"

"Right here!" The now-human werewolf answered as she wrapped her arms around the young man's neck and rubbed her face into his hair, which went to his shoulders.

The son of the eldest N. Cortex allowed this, lacking any experience with women, and Luna, who was more experienced than he was, was willing to help him to a certain extent.

"What's wrong, Nathan?" The werewolf asked as she sensed the young man's depression, "Did you have another bad dream?"

"Yeah." Nathan confirmed the question of his ally.

Even more worried about her friend, Luna spoke another question.

"Did it involved the masks?"

"Not exactly." The twenty-year-old said, "It had another mask in the dream."

"Let me guess..." The female said as she put her face against Nathan's, "Uka-Uka?"

"How did you figure that out?"

Luna smiled artfully as she replied to the lone male human.

"A guess."

The she-wolf withheld the empathic information that told her the being that formed the mixed emotions of fear, concern and disgusted in the young man.

Nathan knew that Luna was not going to confessed the whole truth about how she knew about what being she had mentioned, but that was not important at that time.

"Luna," the ex-Cortex asked Luna, who sensed the emotion of uncertainity from the man, "I wish I could stop these nightmares..."

"I know how you feel." The human female said as her right hand started to caress Nathan's hand, "Keeping these thoughts isn't good for you and your well-being."

"I know, but I feel that I'm in a losing battle."

Keeping her smile, Luna kept moving her hand up and down Nathan's arm, trying to get the boy relax, but it was not working as it would on a normal day. She was starting to feel the same, but it was for a different reason.

"Making a mental mess of yourself won't help anything on the island or our friends, Nathan."

"I know..." Nathan moaned sadly, placing his head into his free hand, "I just wish-"

"'I wish!' 'I wish' 'I wish!'" Luna ranted as she pushed the man to the blanket he was sleeping on earlier and freed a raspberry from her lips.

"What!?" A confused Nathan asked, not knowing of the reason of Luna's sudden outburst of annoyed complaints.

"What the hell is the use for wishes if those who make them do nothing!?"

Making Luna angry was not an easy task, but Nathan failed to see why or how the werewolf got so upset. However, he had an idea.

"What about wishes by those who do take action a good amount of the time?"

The question definitely silenced Luna's rantings, but it did summon a smile onto Luna's lips.

"Good to hear some power behind your voice again."

Surprised by Luna's sudden change of attitude, Nathan blushed as his female friend started to approach him in a very seductive manner as she pressed her chest against his; the action caused Nathan to blush, looking like his face had sunburn.

"Mi-mi-miss Luna!" Nathan studdered his words as the werewolf leaned at the poor boy, who was a child in the matters of the attraction between men and women.

"No 'Miss,' Nathan." Luna's voice was husky from the desire from the boy's cooperation, "It's just Luna..."

Red-faced and palpitation-sensing, Nathan watched as Luna hid her silver-blue eyes under her eyelids and leaned even closer to his face. Their lips were nearly touching...

Then, Nathan slipped out of the hold, sending Luna to the ground, and said, "Look at Crash! He's awesome!"

After having kissed the sand-touched blanket, Luna recovered by rolling to her side, maintained her balance by planting an elbow to the ground and a hand to her chin and looked at the young man. Faced with pure embarrassment, the female werewolf only smiled; although things failed to turn for her favor, when it came to subduing the young genius, she was happy that the man that she was after was paying more attention to reality and not to a few nightmares.

Out on the ocean, Coco was riding her jet-ski, while her older brother was on a wakeboard, being dragged on the water. That was the female bandicoot's idea, much to Crash's dismay.

"Go, Crash!" Coco cheered her brother on, "Yeah! Crash, you're doing great!"

Back on the beach, Aku-Aku was lost in his thoughts, recalling old days that had passed on thousands of years ago. On a day like that, the witch doctor would watch the village children play, the men returning back from a hunt and the women would be preparing a meal, while he would heal or bless anyone who needed it. Of course, those days lacked evil scientists, mutated animals and other of the modern conveniences, but they failed to lack any mad men.

Then, he was pulled back to reality by a sudden rumble, causing him to rise up from his foldable chair.

"What's happening!?" Aku-Aku asked loudly.

Looking around, the elder of the islands saw a volcano nearby fuming and spewing hot smoke and molten rock from its mouth, causing him to exclaim, "No, it cannot be!"

Following the eruption of the volcano, the skies were darken by the storm clouds that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, no!" The mask shouted again.

By that time, Ami, Isabella, Liz and Megumi noticed the clouds and started complaining about what the day's weather. Mario was a little more concern for Coco's and Crash's safety.

"Guys, look out!" The potoroo screamed, but neither of the Bandicoots could hear him.

Coco also saw the dark clouds rolled in skies, causing to inquire.

"What's going on?" The young mammal exclaimed in her confusion. Then, she saw a huge wave rolling towards her brother. Turning back, she shouted to her older sibling, "Crash, look out!"!

It was too late; the tsunami hit the older bandicoot with his sister, and they were swept back onto the shore of their home of Wumpa Island.

The first thing they heard after the wave's powerful impact onto them was Luna's voice, which confessed the wolfgirl's thoughts.

"I've wiped out many times, but this is the first I've wiped out without being on a surfboard."

Looking at Luna, Crash and Coco saw her and the rest of their friends, who were also hit by the massive tidal wave.

"Man, what was that?" Mario asked as he wrung out his tank top.

"I don't know," Ami spoke out for herself and her sisters, "but I've got a really feeling about this whole thing."

"I just want to know what happened." Announced Luna, who shook out most of the loose water from her body, like any canine would, which the others got hit by the droplets.

"Is everyone all right?" The mask asked the group of wipe-out innocents.

"A-Okay!" Luna wrung out her hair, "At least, I am."

"Me too!" Mario shook his hair, trying to fix it into its usually slick look.

"Us too!" The four sisters spoke in unison.

"I'm alright." Nathan looked at the damage to the beach, "However, the shore's another story."

"Yeah." Crash agreed fully, while Coco went to Pura's and Polar's side to make sure they were not harmed in any way.

"Good to hear that." Aku-Aku was grateful, but also worried. Then, he made an announcement to all of them.

"It appears that my evil twin brother, Uka-Uka, is up to his no-good tricks again."

"Are you sure?" Luna would question the old mask, but she would mean no offence to him, "The last time we've seen him, he ended up getting stuck in a time prison, or something like that, with Cortex."

"And you're right about that, Luna." The elder nodded to the werewolf, "However, he must have escaped, because he would want us gone first."

Keeping her stronger thoughts to herself, Luna said, "Can't argue with that."

"Thank you." Aku-Aku ended his reply to Luna and resumed his announcement to the whole of the group.

"I must find out what is he planning. I'll meet up with you later."

"Right," Nathan agreed, "we'll be at the new portal room."

The mask nodded to Nathan before vanishing into thin air, leaving the group of beach-goers a little confused.

"What are we going to do?" Megumi asked Crash, Coco, Nathan and Luna, whom were not shy about their answers.

"We'll do what we normally do." Coco announced first.

"Kick some mad doctor tails!" Luna hopped up, ready for some unexpected action.

"Of course," The male human reminded the werewolf and the marsupials, "we need to alert the other islands before anything else."

"Okay." Luna smiled meekly before she ran into the jungle.

"What's going-" Liz tried to ask, when a powerful howl echoed throughout the jungle and ripped out to N. Sanity Island and Gun Island, telling the inhabitants of the situation level.

"That's loud!" Isabella spoke out in frightened awe of the howl that came from Luna.

"Yeah." Nathan agreed, "Much louder than Sash's."

Sash was Luna's cousin, who left the Wumpa Islands to visit some of her relatives. Knowing that Luna could be concerned about her kin, Nathan looked at his watch-like communication device and gave the beam rider a call.

_"Hello?"_

"Sash, it's Nathan!"

_"It's good to hear you," _Sash's voice sounded confused, _"but I was expecting Luna to call me."_

Keeping his cool, the young man spoke again, "I know, but I'm doing it for her."

_"Really? Have you and her-"_

"No!" Nathan's face glowed red once again, "Nothing's happened between us!"

_"Not yet."_

"Sash!" Nathan growled in annoyance of the statement that Sash was implying about him and Luna. Calming himself, he said, "The reason I'm calling is to make sure you're okay for Luna, so she wouldn't worry about you and the rest of her family."

_"What's happened?"_ Luna's cousin asked in a completely different tone; it was no longer the taunting tone due to brunette werewolf's feelings towards him, but the serious tone when she sensed that something was very wrong.

"Well, we've had a tidal wave hit Wumpa Island." Nathan started, but Sash finished, _"But this was no ordinary tsunami, right?"_

"Right." Nathan responded, not knowing if the moon mystic knew what was going on.

_"So, you've been hit as well."_

That statement perked the scientist's son's attention.

"What's going there?"

_"That question should be 'What's happening everywhere?' Natural disasters are popping up everywhere, from N.Y.C. to L.A., from Toyko to London, and from the Artic to the Antarctic. Is everyone all right?"_

"A big wave got us, but everyone's alive and well." Nathan answered, calming some Sash's worries and fears.

_"The disasters have been oddly mild,"_ the unseen werewolf confessed, _"but this is just the calm before the storm."_

"I hate that when someone says that old saying." Nathan groaned, "It always comes true with me!"

_"Maybe it will, and maybe it won't."_ Sash replied to the young man's complaint, _"Either way, something has to be done about it. That's just how the ball bounces, Nathan."_

That statement did very little to ease Nathan's mind, but he maintained his composure and said, "I'll keep you posted about the events."

_"Thank you, Nathan, and I'll sure that you're up to date with the disasters' strength." _Sash spoke in response before she ended the conversation by saying, _"Good bye, Nathan, and tell Luna that I'm all right."_

"I promise." The dark haired man said, "Bye."

"So," Luna spoke up as Nathan turned off his 'watch,' "is Sash okay?"

"Yeah." Nathan answered, "And she said that things are also stirring up in other parts of the planet."

"Really?" Coco asked in awe of the news, "Then, it's not just us. That's good, right?"

"Nope." Luna, who was normally a lively-natured person, responded in a very depressing tone of voice, "Things are just beginning for us in this situation. It's really the calm before the storm."

"Exactly Sash's words." Nathan was surprised about the similar thought patterns of the two cousins, whether or not the fact that they were werewolves by birth was not a strong factor in it.

"Let's get to the portal room!" Crash shouted out to the others, "Aku-Aku's probably there now!"

"I doubt that," the ex-Cortex rose an eyebrow, "but I've been wrong before."

"I better check of the rest of the islands." Mario Porotoo interjected into the conversation, "We might find out if anyone else was hurt."

"Good idea." Ami, the green haired bandicoot female, spoke up, "I'll help too."

"Us too!" The other sisters shouted in unison.

"Looks and sounds like we have a game plan." The brunette werewolf smiled a toothy grin at her friends, "Let's get going, Bandicoots! And others!"

The group divided into two and went to their assigned jobs, hoping that they could return to their vacation soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Two

Aku-Aku appeared in a place that very few people know about, which includes himself and Uka-Uka, who probably told Tropy and Cortex about the hyperspace that was held within the planet Earth. The old mask also knew that a certain group of destrutive spirits were imprisoned here long ago as punishment for nearly destorying the world.

He recalled the last time they were freed from their prison, and the ones responsible for releasing them were punished to act as guardians of the islands that acted as a gateway to that prison.

Then, Aku-Aku sensed a familiar power, which belongs to only one being: Uka-Uka. Following the direction of power, the good-hearted mask flew to a stone, shrine-like structure and in the middle of it was Uka-Uka.

"Hello, my feeble brother." The bone-bearing mask greeted his twin with a dark, cryptic smile, which only angered Aku-Aku.

"You have gotten my attention, Uka-Uka!" The feather-decorated mask spoke out at his twin, "What kind of diabolical scheme do you and Doctor Cortex have planned this time?"

"No schemes," the evil twin was too glad to answer, "just a some old familiar faces dropping by for a visit."

Without warning, four masks appeared next to Uka-Uka and laughing as darkly as the one who freed them. As soon as he saw them, Aku-Aku exclaimed his apparent shock.

"Not the Elementals! Uka-Uka, did you release them? Don't you remember the last time they were free?"

Casual was the best way to describe the tone of voice that flowed out of Uka-Uka's mouth.

"So, they were responsible for a few disasters that nearly destoryed the world a few centuries ago; you worry too much, brother."

"But you cannot restrain them!" The good twin countered with his own concerns, "They are too powerfully dangerous! It would spell doom for us all!"

A dark laugh flowed from the Elemental that looked like ball of fire before he spoke out Aku-Aku.

"On the contrary, Aku-Aku, it spells doom for you and that precious world that you care so much about!"

Then, he turned to his fellow Elemental Masks and shouted out, "DESTORY HIM!"

Keeping aware of the actions of his enemies, Aku-Aku dodged the combined attack of the Elementals, which proved to be explosive upon hitting the stone floor of the shinre-like prison.

"You won't get away with this, Uka-Uka!" The guardian of the Wumpa Islands announced to his dark brother, who boastfully replied by saying, "Ha, ha, ha! Who's going to stop us?"

Hearing this, Aku-Aku took his turn to be smug, which was evident in his grin as he answered the "question."

"Who do you think?"

Then, Aku-Aku disappeared in a flash as the Elementals tried to harm him again.

"Let's get 'im!" The mask with two horn-like appendages and an earth-tone color shouted, ready to give chase to the good mask, but the fiery mask got into his way.

"Hold it, Rok-Ko! If what Aku-Aku said is true, we'll get our chance to 'repay' him for what he did to us centuries ago."

As the grim grin formed on the flaming mask's lips, Rok-Ko and the other two Elemental mask looked at Uka-Uka, who only confirmed the fire mask's words.

"Of course, you're right, Py-Ro, which leads to my 'problem' that I want you four to take care of... soon."

* * *

Back on Wumpa Island, Crash, Coco, Nathan and Luna were in the new portal room, which sat within some of the ruins, and dressed in either drier versions of their clothes or in their normal attire, while waiting for Aku-Aku to return. Coco was working on her computer, while her elder brother was drying off his red hair. Nathan was working with Mario via commuicator on the islands' most recent problems, and Luna was sitting next to Polar and Pura, who was taking a quick catnap.

"What's taking Aku-Aku so long?" Crash complained to Nathan, who gave his answer by saying without looking at his friend, "Sometimes, these check-ups take some time. Besides, if he ever got himself to into any trouble, he can take care of himself."

"So, stop worrying, Crash." Luna added to the young man's statement as she rubbed the tiger cub's ear.

Then, the mask that was the guardian of the three islands appeared into the room, which obtained the group's attentions.

"Back already?" Luna said in a bored tone of voice to the mask.

"Yes," Aku-Aku responded to the wolf girl's 'greeting,' "and it is just as I've feared: Uka-Uka and Doctor Cortex have freed a group of destructive masks known as the Elementals."

The announcement caused Luna to become pale from the shock of the news. She went to her feet and spoke out.

"The Elementals!? Those guys are bad news!"

"You're familiar of these Elementals?" Nathan voiced out his thoughts to Luna, who answered in a frantic voice, "Oh, yeah; it was my people that helped seal them away centuries back when two brothers recklessly woke them up!"

"Are they so bad?" Coco inquiried both Aku-Aku and Luna, who was quick to answer.

"With their powers, they have the power to destory the world and kill everyone on it!"

Nathan, now worried about the urgency of the situation, spoke up, implying his concern, "There has to be a way to reseal them again."

"No," Luna shook her head, knowing that the ex-Cortex wanted to find a peaceful solution to the problem, "not this time."

"But we need to find a way to stop them!" Coco jumped up and down with worry.

"Oh! There's a way." The female werewolf looked at Coco, "There's no way to seal them up for a third time."

"Wow!" Crash could only listen to his friends, who were trying to solve the massive problem, "Cortex is back to using masks again."

"Pretty much." Luna looked up at the ceiling in an eye roll. Then, she informed the group's members, "There're four relics that can finally destory the Elementals and bring back some kind of peace of mind to everyone that knows about the masks, not to mention, keep the world from suffering four different disasters acting up at the same time."

"That's good to hear!" Crash smiled with a bright cockiness, "All I have to do is to get the relics, find out how to use them, destory the masks and kick Cortex's tail before he could take over the world after destorying it."

"Good plan," the male human said with a strong doubt in his voice, "but there's a couple kinks in the idea. One: you don't know where each of the relics are at, and it's a big world out there. Two: even if you did know where they were, you'd have no idea of what they looked like. And three: the traps would be near impossible for just you alone to get through without any help, if the relics were powerful enough to be hidden from the world. I mean Luna would-"

"Zip through it like a bolt of lightning." The wolf girl bragged loudly.

This caused Nathan to be extremely upset with Luna for interrupting his explaination, but then he realized the possible meaning in the bragging female's words.

"Luna."

"Yes?" the wolf girl smiled widely as she knew where her little jest was going.

"Forgive me for being forward, but you won't happen to know where the relics were hidden, would ya?"

Luna smiled as she answered using the following statement: "Well, I can forgive you for your forwardness, which I see as a welcomed thing. Besides, I've used the traps to test myself over the years, but don't tell anyone; Daddy's been worried about me ever since I've gotten lost in a forest that I wasn't too familiar with."

Crash and Coco Bandicoot could hardly keep themselves from laughing as they watched Nathan's face grimace upon Luna's statement. Aku-Aku, not seeing much of the humor, shouted at the group in a fatherly manner.

"Now is not the time for comedy, when the Wumpa Islands are in grave danger!"

"Danger!?" The Bandicoot siblings looked at the magical mask, who added, "Yes, the Elementals were imprisoned in hyperspace, but the only way to access to that part is through the islands."

"I see," Nathan processed the new information in his mind as he spoke, "they may believe that they're going to be imprisoned again."

"Or they don't want a reminder of their jailtime." Luna blantly added to the thought.

Coco voiced out her thoughts, stating, "Either way, they're powerful enough to destory the Wumpa Islands, and they're planning to do it too!"

Keeping her cool, Luna said, "No prob. Crash and I will get the relics, while you guys keep taps on things."

"And when we do," Crash decided to speak out, "we'll nail them, ending their reign of terror and leaving Cortex and Uka-Uka to deal with."

"That's a plan." Aku-Aku said, not sure about how whole their plans were.

A ring echoed from the screen, which was one of the ways of commuication on the three islands, and Nathan went to it and answered it by pressing a button.

"I'm here."

_"Well,"_ an all too familiar voice rang out as an all too familiar face appeared onto the screen, _"that's more than I've expected."_

"Nathan, turn that off now!" Luna shouted in a disgusted voice, "Someone's mooning us over the screen!"

This shout casued Crash, Coco, Nathan and even Aku-Aku to burst out laughing, while Cortex, whose face was on the screen and turning rogue with anger, shouted at the she-werewolf, _"You'll pay for that!"_

"I'm a little short right now, but I'll pay all of it a little later." Luna mocked the yellow-skinned man, who was nearly orange in his fury.

However, Neo Cortex managed to calm himself and redirect his sights onto the one being that he truly wanted to talk to.

_"Crash Bandicoot, my old nemesis, how the heck are you?"_

"Get off the pot, Cortex!" A crude shout flew off of an annoyed Luna's mouth, "You're here to boast about something, so drop the formalites, announce to us your latest device that is to destory us and maybe the world, and get your tail-sided face off of the screen!"

Then, something unexpected happened between the bickering sides.

_"Well, Doctor Cortex, it sounds like that this Crash Bandicoot is a bit of an arrogant fool."_

"Huh?" It was the only thing that flowed out of the mouth of the four allies, however Cortex just smiled cryptically.

_"I've been working something more intriguing than defending the world and gathering silly power sources. Meet Crunch... my newest creation."_

Then, a large mammal, which was covered with muscles and had a robotic arm, appeared from behind Cortex, who stepped aside. The creation's wolf-like head and maroon fur were noticable, but his forest-green eyes burned an odd flame of confidence as he spoke out an inquiry to the foursome plus Aku-Aku.

_"Which of you is Crash Bandicoot?"_

Realizing that this creature was after Crash's hide, all maintained a moment of silence. Crash refused to move a muscle, while Nathan, Aku-Aku and Coco stood their ground and kept their lips shut. Luna, however, was more forthcoming by walking to the wanted Bandicoot and pointed at him, which earned her the fury of the other four members of the present group.

"LUNA!" Coco, Nathan and Aku-Aku yelled at the wolf girl, while Crash turned to object of his outrage and expressing his displeasure of her actions by shouting, "Thanks, Luna! Now, I'm dead!"

_"THAT is the creature, who keeps sabotaging your master plan, Doctor Cortex?!" _Crunch expressed his disbelief; he could not conceive the possiblity of a creature, like Crash, could stop Cortex's machines and minions. Then, he scoffed at Crash, saying, _"Ha! You've got to be kidding me! I could exterminate this fieldrat in no time!"_

_"Now, Crunch,"_ Cortex spoke up to the larger marsupial, _"your time with Crash will come soon enough..."_

"Hurry it up..." Luna muttered under her breath, not liking what she has learned about this certain situation.

The mad doctor was calm and nonchalant as he spoke to Crash, _"Isn't he brilliant? A testament to my true scientific genius; a real bandicoot warrior, unlike you, Crash. Oh well, we all make mistakes. Ta-ta for now!"_

Then, the image of the yellow-skinned foe of the younger members of Wumpa Island vanished from the screen, leaving them with a new concern and a new enemy.

"This is disheartening!" Aku-Aku was the first to speak out; the contents of the statement was agreed by the Bandicoots, Nathan and Luna, who was also quick to try to cheer the group up.

"Don't worry, guys! We'll be able to stop them!"

The attempt did not go well; the four others glared at Luna, especially Crash, who was quick to confront her.

"Luna, why did you tell that over-sized guy who I was? He's going to kill me!"

Luna, an artful female and a powerful fighter, was showing a cunning curve on her lips as she responded to the confronting statement.

"As I recall from Nathan's stories of you and him fighting Neo Cortex and his plan to take over the planet, his tendency to understimate you and overstimate his own genius, if there's any in that hot air trap, is his greatest weakness."

"Huh?" Crash asked, confused by Luna's words.

"Let me explain," the werewolf mentally kicked herself for forgetting Crash's limited education, "Cortex thinks that you're really not a big enough threat to intervene with his plans, although he does try to get rid of you, but Cortex's lacking a few things in his head to see that you're a bigger obstacle on his way to global domination than he believes. Got it now?"

"Yeah!" Crash smiled as he realized that his chances of survival was stronger than he thought.

"Luna," Nathan went straight to the wolf girl, "now that's cleared up, we still have four Elementals that will try to destroy the Wumpa Islands, Uka-Uka, Neo Cortex and Crunch. How, pray tell, is Crash going to stop them?"

"As I've said earlier," Luna countered as she kept her grin, "you and Crash were fighting against Cortex; not just him."

"Oh, yeah." Nathan frowned upon realizing that Luna corrected him... again.

The mask came forward and spoke, "We still need a plan to stop the Elementals and Cortex's new superweapon."

"Yeah; don't think Crash's too fond with being destroyed in five different ways." Luna said, not realizing how thoughtless her words were.

"Luna!" The others scolded the werewolf, who replied, "What? We'll stick with the first plan and take care of Cortex and Uka-Uka, who's going to be aiding that Crunch Bandicoot, later."

"That's not exactly what I'm concerned about." Aku-Aku took command of the meeting from the wolf girl, "We need to know what to do and who should do that 'what.'"

"That's simple!" Coco finally spoke, becoming annoyed and tried of being left out of the conversation, "Luna would get the relics, and Crash will use them to destory the Elementals before they destory us!"

"While you and I maintain the function and power to the portal room." Nathan added on to the youngest Bandicoot's statement.

"That's settled!" Aku-Aku smiled sincerely, pleased to see the four allies coming to an agreement on the course of action, "Luna, you will retreive the relics, and I'll help you anyway I can."

"Thanks, Aku-Aku." Luna was happy to see a smiled on the old mask, "I've never tried to take the relics, so I don't know of the removal traps that may be there."

"That's just our luck." Nathan moaned sadly.

Aku-Aku paid no mind to Nathan's words as he turned to Crash, who was still a little worried about Crunch.

"Crash, I'll help you too. I know that you've had the problem of getting into trouble, so I'll do everything I can to help you out as well."

The older Bandicoot sighed in relief; from what he could understand, he thought he was going to face Crunch and the evil masks by himself.

"Just his luck." Coco rolled her green eyes, knowing that Crash was not as afraid as he was earlier.

Keeping her mouth shut, Luna looked at the computer screen and saw it show the words: "ISLAND ALERT!" However, Nathan saw it as well and went to it, hoping it was not his biologically uncle again.

"Nathan here."

The image that appeared on the screen was a more welcomed sight than Cortex and his lastest superweapon.

"Mario!" Coco smiled upon seeing the young potoroo's face.

Keeping himself remained of his job and his uncle's recent threat to his best friend, Nathan asked the younger brother of Pinstripe Potoroo, "Is everything okay?"

"Not quite." Mario answered, "Things are okay on Wumpa and N. Sanity Islands, but Gun Island's getting hit hard by earthquakes and aftershocks."

"We'll on the job, Mario." Nathan boldly announced, making sure that no one saw his fear.

"I hope so." The younger potoroo said with an uncertain tone of voice, "Things are all right now, but the buildings could only stand for much shaking."

The human male admitted, "It'll take some time, but we'll do it as quickly as we can."

"Hurry it up!" Mario said before his face faded from the screen.

Nathan turned to his friends and made his voice loud and strong as he gave his orders to them.

"Coco, rev up the portal, so Luna and Aku-Aku. Crash, you better get some rest if you're going to fight against Crunch and the Elementals. I'm going to call Doctor Brio, and he'll dispatch the task force."

"Right, Nathan," spoke the nonchalant werewolf, "but I'd look for Crash under the bed when I get back."

Coco giggled as she heard Luna's statement and looked at her older brother, who was shaking from the fear of the fact that he was going to die by Crunch Bandicoot.


	3. Chapter 3

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Three

In a lush, green forest, a blue spiral appeared from nowhere, startling the natural fauna into or from their homes. Out of the portal came three forms: Luna in her human form, Aku-Aku and Crash. As soon as the three exited from the hole, the portal vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"What a beautiful place!" Luna exclaimed joyously as she stretched her arms into the air.

"You're right." The ancient mask agreed as he examined the scenery, "It's quite beautiful."

"There's no Wumpa fruit..." Complained the hero of his home.

"Uh, Luna," Aku-Aku went to the werewolf's ears, "not to sound disrepectful or rude, but why did you trick Crash into coming with us? You know how easily angered Nathan can become."

"Of course." The wolf girl admitted to the old mask, "However, if Crash wasn't on the island with Nathan and Coco and the others, the Elementals would back off from there."

"At least, for a short time." The mask that was Aku-Aku added with a worried and concerned expression formed onto his face.

"At least." Luna nodded as she confirmed with the elder mask.

"Hey, guys..."

The sound of Crash's voice caused the werewolf and the mask to look at him.

"What about the guardians at the temples that have the relics?" The bandicoot voiced his concerns about the places they were going to his allies.

"Don't worry about them." Luna scoffed at the concern of the young bandicoot, "The werewolves can defend themselves."

"Werewolves!?" Crash was shocked about the girl's answer.

"The wolf folk guard the relics?" Aku-Aku's voice was coated with curiosity.

"Duh!" Luna rudely replied, "Who else could keep nosy people from finding the relics and screwing up the planet?"

"What about the werewolves themselves?" Crash cocked an eyebrow at Luna.

"A select few are allowed to know the locations of the relics and the temples, but they're have been a few expections over the centuries."

"Like whom?" Crash glared at Luna, which told the wolf girl that he was not going to believe that she lacked the knowledge of the locations.

"Me."

The grin on Luna's made Crash and Aku-Aku worry about the situation and how they would be able to save the world.

"Don't fret, my allies." The werewolf swung at her friend's doubt and concern, "The guardians of the relics are nice people, when not provoked."

"Provoked?" The colorful mask made an inquiry to the female member of the group.

"They get pretty mad when you do something dumb, like attack without a proper reasoning or taking someone's child, espeically theirs'."

"Good point." Aku-Aku said after thinking about the statement for a moment.

"I don't get it." Crash plainly replied, scratching his red-haired head.

"If it happens, you'll see what I mean." The female werewolf waved to her friends to continue to move on.

Crash and Aku-Aku looked at each other, still concerned, yet they were interested about Luna's people and the guardians of the weapons that can destory the Elementals. They followed Luna to the hidden temple.

On the way to relic's home, Luna showed Crash and Aku-Aku some of the sights on the way, pointing out quick details about them. The mask was interested in what Luna had to say, but Crash was more interested into food.

Before the bored bandicoot could start to complain about anything, Luna made her announcement.

"We're here!"

The two allies of Luna was confused about the announcement and the source of Luna's excitement, which was a small Shinto shrine.

"This is it?" Crash asked the wolf girl, "IT'S A SHACK!"

"One thing: that's a shrine to a kami, or a god, and the second thing is that you better watch what you say about the 'shack,' because the people that live around here are very touchy about their gods' homes."

The girl's warning was not what the mask expected to fly out of her mouth, but he also knew that she was right. So, he spoke up to Crash in a way that only Crash could comprehened.

"Let's put it this way: if someone were to take all of the wumpa fruit from the islands, you'd be very upset."

"Oh..." The bandicoot realized what his friends meant, "I guess I didn't see that way."

The werewolf snickered into her hand, knowing that it was not the same thing, but the feelings were very the same. Aku-Aku agreed with Luna unintentionally, but he knew that Crash was seeing things as they were.

"Come on, guys!" Luna shouted as she neared a tall gate structure, "Let's go before my uncle finds us here!"

"Through that?" Crash blantly asked about the gate.

"Yeah." Luna replied to the bandicoot, "Through the torii, into the hokora, and the rest is as easy as eating wumpa fruit."

"Huh?" Crash responded to the werewolf's words, but Aku-Aku helped him to understand Luna.

"Go follow Luna, and you'll get your answer."

Unsure about the mask's answer, Crash quietly agreed to obey Aku-Aku's suggestion.

Luna kept the led as the trio reached the shrine. At the entrance hall inside the shrine, Luna told off her shoes. Crash, who was not knowing of the customs of the land he was in, followed the she-wolf's movements. Aku-Aku just hid himself by making himself invisible.

"What's with the paper?" Crash voiced out his thoughts.

"The paper's called shide, used for rituals of the shrine." Spoke Luna in a knowing tone of voice, "It's also used as a 'religious keep out sign' for a lot of people, especially when the paper's on shimenawa."

"Huh?"

"Rice straw rope that encloses certain things."

"Oh."

Then, a familiar voice rang out the group, and Luna froze at the sound.

"Luna, Crash, what are you two doing here!"

Turning around, the members of the group saw a young woman with jet-black hair, brown eyes and dressed in an outfit that was unfamiliar to the bandicoot, but Luna just smiled at the girl.

"Obi Tsukiko, aka Sash, it's good to see you again."

"Sash?!" Crash's shock exploded from his mouth, "That's Sash!?"

"Yes..." The miko-looking female glared at the bandicoot with her hard eyes, which turned amber for a moment before darkening back to brown.

"But how?" Crash managed to ask after being the reciver of the moon mystic's fury-filled glare.

"Simple." Luna smiled artfully at her allies, "Werewolves are shapeshifters, and the beam riders are no exceptions to that old rule. Of course, the human forms just allows the change of the hues of their hair and eyes."

"Well put." Sash said sarcastally, "I'm sure that Crash understood you very well."

"Cuz, no need for the vemon." The cousin of the 'miko' said, "Of just a few dumb choices, you and your dad's clan keeping on the list for the 'unwelcoming mat.'"

"That because that you've earned it." Sash rolled her eyes at Luna's statement.

"Still un-needed."

"Luna," Crash interjected himself between the bickering females, "I've never seen you two arguing with each other like this back at home."

"Simple." The raven-haired female answered in lieu of Luna, "It was your home we were at, not ours."

"Sad, but true." Luna nodded in agreement with her cousin.

"But if you two were trying not to fight each other-"

"Hold it right there, Crash." Luna said, holding her hands in a form of defense from the words, "Let me say that Sash and I got tried from fighting each other."

"Espeically when the future of the whole of the world was in stake." The 'miko' quickly added to Luna's statement, also making some of the explaination more clear for Crash to understand.

"Okay," Crash said, "I think I get it."

"Good," The brown-haired werewolf smiled at the bandicoot, "now we can get to brass tax and the staff of Saratahiko-Okami."

"WHAT!?" Sash's voice echoed throughout the shrine before she confronted Luna, "Have you lost the mind that you were born with!? Father would kill anyone who would be so bold, if not crazy, enough to venture into the hidden shrine, take the shintai of the shrine and expect themselves to escape without a alteration to their being!"

"I know that, but that's where you come in." The cousin of the miko winked at Crash.

"Not a chance!"

"Not to be a spoil sport," Luna looked at Sash with a sly eye, "but who's covering from whom about why you stayed on Wumpa Island for the last couple of years?"

"That's blackmail!" Sash exclaimed at her cousin, who responded by saying, "True, but I need your help to keep your dad away from the temple long enough to get the staff, use it and return it before my scent reaches his nose."

"That's insane..." Sash moaned, knowing that Luna was going to go after the staff.

"Maybe, but I've got to try to help save the world, or get killed by your dad trying."

A smile, although it was weak, graced the human-looking Sash as she spoke to her lone cousin.

"Luna, you're nuttier than a squirell's stash, but your heart's in the right place, while mine's in the gutter somewhere."

"So, you're helping? Crash hopefully asked Sash.

"Of course." The miko nodded in confirming her answer to her friend.

"I promise to be in and out both times, Cuz." Luna vowed as she pounded onto her own chest, "Don't want my only cousin getting burned 'cause of me."

"Thank you, Luna." Sash continued to smile. Then, she said to her allies, "Follow me, please, and try to keep up."

Confused about the behavior of the moon mystic, Crash started to question the miko, only to be silenced by Luna, who said, "Be quiet and be alert for things are not what they seem to be."

The statement only confused the bandicoot even more. Luckfully, Luna detected this and added, "You'll see."

"I sure hope so." The bandicoot moaned as he rubbed his head in the mist that was his own confusion and followed the females to a deeper part of the shrine.

As the group neared where the part of the shrine, they desended down many flights of stairs. Following the stairs, the apparent trio entered a cavern, and near the flight of stairs by a few feet stood a red and gold fence covered with the papers.

"The tamagaki." Sash spoke out, "Beyond that lies the true Jisha."

"And the staff of Saratahiko-Okami." Luna added as she stared at the deep cave beyond the shide-covered fence.

"Now, who's going?" Crash asked the girls.

"Luna," Sash placed a hand onto her cousin's shoulder, "you and Aku-Aku should be able to make it through all of the traps."

"Sure." Luna smiled somwhat sheepishly as she looked at her cousin; the werewolf was hoping that she could slip the mask into the true shrine, but she knew that Sash was too smart and knew her a little too well to be outsmarted by a simple trick like that.

"Good luck." The miko gave a small bow before Luna hopped over the fence and dashed off into the cave.

"Bye." Crash waved at the she-wolf, but then he turned to Sash and inquiried her.

"Hey, I've got some questions about this place, so can you explain a couple of things to me?"

"Sure."

"What's a Saratahiko-Okami?"

Sash smiled, but she managed to keep herself from laughing out loud. Once she controlled her giggles, which was in a matter of seconds, she corrected and answered the question.

"Saratahiko-Okami is a who, Crash. He is the ruler of the earth kami, the supposed founder of the martial arts that came from Nippon and the one who sealed the Elementals with three others."

"Three others?" Crash asked the miko, who replied, "Yes, but they were gods in the parts of the world that they were from."

Realizing that these four 'gods' were not able to destory the four evil masks, Crash started to worry again.

"Don't worry about how they would not able to destory them." Sash spoke, sensing the bandicoot's worry, The relics were created after the imprisonment of the evil masks, in case the twin guardians failed their job first."

"The twin guardians?" Crash asked as a bad feeling forming in his mind about the identity of the twins, "Do you know who they are?"

"Not really," Sash confessed, but she added, "but we, as in Luna and myself, have an idea or two about that."

Hearing this caused Crash to gulp loudly as he feared that the mask, Aku-Aku was really in trouble this time.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luna and Aku-Aku had passed the first two traps without a mark on their beings. The she-werewolf took a small breathing break so she could regain some of her energy that she lost when she dashed passed the traps. The mask floated around the young woman, no longer invisible to anyone.

"Luna, I have been wondering about how Sash found out about me." Aku-Aku spoke out to the young werewolf, who was willing to answer inspite of her embarrssment.

"Sorry about that, but she knew I would do something like that in this kind of situation."

"I do know that you two are cousins." Aku-Aku stated a fact.

"Yes, but our mothers wanted us to be more like sisters." Luna explained to the old mask, "Every summer, either Sash and her mom visits me and my mom, and the next summer would be mine and Mom's turn to visit them in Japan."

Once she ended that statement, she also ended her break by running off into the cavern's remaining traps. Aku-Aku followed Luna, braving himself through the same traps, but with less of the dangers that the werewolf faced.

At the end of the traps that guarded the path to the true shrine, the small-time duo found a staff, which the lower part was impaled into the ground. The top of the staff was holding a metal ring with a spike-like appendage on the top and six smaller black rings were intertwined with the larger ring.

"Is that the staff of Saratahiko-Okami?" The mask asked the werewolf.

"Yep."

"You plan on taking it?"

"Exactly."

"I hope it works out for you, because I sense a power that protect it."

"Me too, Aku-Aku, but I'm not worried."

"And that's what worrys me."

Luna just shook her head and laughed before saying, "I don't blame you, but I know the power that my uncle and Sash guard with their very lives."

"That's a solemn statement to make when you are laughing." The colorful mask announced, surprised at the brown haired wolf girl's words.

"Don't worry." The brown haired girl waved her hand in defiance, "I'm quick, able to think on my feet and willing to help a friend in need. I've got this covered."

Luna went to the staff and grabbed it. With all of her strength, the werewolf pulled out the relic, freeing it from its hold.

"Well," Luna shrugged her shoulders after a moment of waiting, "that wasn't want I've expected."

Then, a sound of something moving echoed throughout the cave, as if telling the she-wolf that she was wrong.

"What was that?" Aku-Aku asked before his answer arrived.

* * *

"What's taking them so long, Sash?" Whined the orange and red badicoot.

The miko, who heard the same question two times earlier, just replied, "I don't know, Crash. If I knew, then I would be able to answer the inquiary, but I don't know, so I can't answer. Understand?"

"I'm trying." Crash responded in a disheartened tone of voice.

"Not enough in my opinion." The now-dark haired female muttered under her breath.

Then, a shout echoed from the cavern that Luna and Aku-Aku entered a time ago, alerting the two quickly.

"GGGGGGANGWWWWWAY!"

Sash, knowing very well about the shout and whom it came from, grabbed the bandicoot, who was basically standing around, by the nape of the neck and dragged him away.

Within the same moment, a blur of brown and green flew by and leaped over the fence. A second, more colorful blur flew right behind the first, barely keeping up with the first one.

"What's-" Crash started to ask, but he was interrupted by a huge boulder rolling into that part of the cave.

Sash quickly allowed her powers to show by change of color of hair, which turned from black to silver-white, and eyes that lightened into amber, and she became ethereal and wolf-like before dashing off to the large rock and smashing it to pieces.

"Whoa!" Crash exclaimed upon watching the beam rider's performance, "I can't do that!"

"You shouldn't."

The voice caused the hero of his home to turned towards a returning duo that were Luna and Aku-Aku. The thing the bandicoot noticed the most was the odd staff in the werewolf's right hand.

"What's that, Luna?" The bandicoot pointed at the staff.

"This is the staff that was made and owned by Saratahiko-Okami, one of the four that imprisoned the Elementals long ago." Luna's voice extented from its normal sense of sarcasm and went to poetic and over-dramantic, which annoyed her cousin greatly.

"Save the drama for the funeral."

That was caused the four to turn to the entrance, to find Doctor Nefarious Tropy there.

With an oddly-timed sigh of relief, Luna laughed out and said, "Oh, it's you. I thought it was Sash's dad for a moment there!"

The blue face of the time travler became purple from fury, which sparked the moment Luna insulted him by saying that he was not fearful compared to the werewolf's uncle.

"That's not funny." The doctor growled at the she-wolf.

"It's truth." Luna countered, causing an outraged look in Tropy's eyes.

Then, an nasty idea formed in the blue-skinned doctor's brain, when he noticed Sash. In a single moment, Nefarious Tropy started to carry out his plan and seemingly vanished into thin air. Luna, who had a stronger sense of accuracy when it came to jugding the character of others, also disappeared within the same second.

Crash, in his own moment, just asked Aku-Aku, "Where did they go?"

The question was answered, but not by Aku-Aku's mouth and words; A loud pop was heard by all of visible trio, and that was followed by an equally loud gasp from Sash. The two males turned and saw the silver haired miko with Luna in a hitting pose. They followed the direction of the pose and found an knocked-out Tropy on the floor.

Realizing what happened to a degree, the ancient mask said, "It seems that Tropy was trying to get back at you by harming your cousin."

"Duh!" The brown haired female replied in a rude manner as she broke off the position, "He just need to learn that not everything's as it appears to be."

"Agreed, Luna." The werewolf miko said as she turned to her would-be attacker, "Now, let's see if I can mess with his suit once more."

Then, the moon mystic changed her form once more and bacame a being of pure light and energy. With a fast moment, Sash flew and hit her target, rearranging the circuits in the suit. After that task was done, which took less than a second, Sash flew out of the time travling attire and went to her cousin's side, where she resumed her fully human form.

The miko watched with her friends and cousin as Doctor Nefarious Tropy disappeared into a silver-gray orb, which vanished after absorbing the scienist.

"So, that's the end of one problem." Crash boldly announced.

"But he was but a symptom of the disease that plagues the Earth now." Luna said in a sombering tone of voice, making the bandicoot realize that things were as bad as it seemed to be.

"That is something I wasn't expecting to come from you." A new voice echoed throughout the cave.

The four looked at the entrance of the path between the shrine and the cavern, and the voice's owner was an older man, who seemed to be in his late thiries or early forties, wearing an outfit similar to Sash's, but the pants were sky blue.

"Odou-san!" Sash gasped in terror upon seeing the middle-aged man, while Luna said in her native language, "Hi, Uncle Tsukitaro."

"Odou-san?" Crash looked at the moon mystic, confused about the names that both the cousins had called the older man.

"It means 'father.'" The man answered the mammal's question in a most fluent English.

"Father!?" Now, the bandicoot was confused.

Sensing the disbelief in Crash, the man made a simple and familiar transformation in front of the group of four.

"Whoa!" Crash said after seeing the man change his hair and eye color to match Sash's, "I'm sorry about that-"

"Do not worry yourself about me." The male moon mystic smiled fatherly at Crash, "Your true concern is for the planet."

"Which Sash often told her dad about." Luna commented under her breath, earning a dark glare from the amber eyes of the older man.

"Luna, not now!" Hissed the mask, also gaining the old man's attention.

"Are you one of the twin guardians that were supposed to keep the Elementals from being released onto the world?"

"I am." Aku-Aku's answer was filled with deep regret.

With a deep sigh, Tsukitaro said, "I had hoped that I would not see you when my child was born."

"Huh?" Crash looked at Luna, who whispered, "He was hoping that the Elementals would be around at anytime, mostly in Sash's time."

"What do you mean, Luna?"

"I mean that Uncle's hoping that Sash would not be born when the masks were causing chaos in the world."

"Runa," the male moon mystic called out to the werewolf with the brown hair, "I know why you've taken the staff of Saratahiko-Okami, and I will not punish you this time."

"What?" The statement from her uncle was unexpected, and it was evident on the she-werewolf's face.

"Surprising not to get scolded by me, huh?" Luna's uncle smiled, pleased with the expression on his daughter's cousin's face.

"Big time." That was the only thing Luna could say at that point as she nodded her head.

The rest in the she-wolf's company just giggled or silently smiled at Luna; It was not everyday that Luna, who was seemingly ready to comment about something, was rendered speechless.

The uncle by marriage just laughed loudly, being a constant vitcim of Luna's words, and said, "Maybe the release of the evil mask might be somewhat good."

"Don't say that!" Luna scolded her uncle, earning a smile from her elder.

"Don't worry about me, but do worry about the Elements that might be destorying what they see as a prison." Tsukitaro announced sternly, something Luna was relieved to hear. In response to the stern tone, Luna saluted him and said, "Right away, sir."

"Good." The older man said as a smile graced his face once again, "I will be here when you do return the staff."

"I promise!" The she-wolf smiled at her uncle. Then, she turned to her friends and said, "Let's go!"

Crash and Aku-Aku left the cave by the stairway first, followed by Luna and Sash and her father were the last to depart from the cave. Once outside the shrine, Tsukitaro turned to Luna and spoke to her.

"Runa, be wary of those who might mistake your taking of the staff as blasphemous theft, but if that event proves not to be the case, then e careful of those who would seek its power for their own gain."

"Understood, Uncle." Luna nodded to her relative by marriage. Then, she turned her attention to Sash and said, "Take care of yourself, Sash."

"I shall, if you promise to do the same." The female moon mystic smiled back in her response to Luna's words.

This caused a laugh to fly out of the brown haired werewolf's mouth, and this only lasted for a minute or two. After that, Luna calmed herself and said, "Bye!" Then, she ran off after Crash and Aku-Aku, who were passed the gate by the time she caught with them.

Watching her cousin depart from her father's shrine, Sash allowed a small tear to caress her face, saddened by Luna's quick leave and worried about the brown haired girl's safety; She knew that Luna could take care of herself, but the young moon mystic was the closest thing to an older sister Luna ever have, being older than Luna by five years.

"Tsukiko," Sash's father spoke up after seeing the bead stream on his child's cheek, "Runa can take care of herself. I know you have faith in her, but you can't spend your life worrying about a half-pup. Besides, it would be nice if some of the trouble she has caused us were directed at the true monsters of this world."

Keeping herself from brusting into tears was not easy for Sash, espeically since Luna was a little sister to her, like their respective mothers were to each other.


	4. Chapter 4

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Four

Nathan paced back and forth, trying to contain his fury, but that was not easy for him, espeically since Luna had brought Crash along for the ride. The boy's face was purple-red with rage at the wily wolfgirl and his wild whims. She did this sort of thing where he aquired her assisance against his uncle's campaign to collect the power crystals, and she had done it again three years later!

"Darn it!" Roared the young genius, while Coco read her e-mails on her laptop, "That werewolf's going to be the death of me!"

"Calm down, Nathan." The younger sister of Crash Bandicoot replied to outraged lad without moving her eyes from the computer screen, "If Luna had any reason to bring Crash along with her and Aku-Aku, it'll be a good reason."

An animalistic growl slid through Nathan's teeth as he tried to maintain his fury from being unleashed onto the innocent bandicoot, even though he had a reason to be upset at her: Coco was right.

After a moment, Nathan regained a piece of his composure, which still was not enough to hide his anger, as he spoke once again.

"Luna's been a pain in the tail ever since I've met her!"

The statement perked Coco's curiosity along with her bandicoot ears; she always wanted to know how Nathan, the teen genius at the time, met with Luna and Sash, the werewolf duo. Turning from the laptop and closing it, she asked, "How did you meet Luna and Sash, anyway?"

"Don't ask." The young man moaned as his fury converted to misery, "Just don't ask."

All Nathan ever confessed about the first meeting with Luna and Sash was that it was the only time when he had ever seen Luna in a true rage, which was something he wished that he had never seen nor did he wish to witness ever again.

Then, the portal became active, and in its wake, Luna, Crash and Aku-Aku leaped from the blue aura.

"Hey, Nathan!" Luna's smile was wide and bright due to the conversation with her uncle as she twirled the staff of Saratahiko-Okami in her fingers.

"That's the relic?" Nathan pointed at the staff.

"It better be." Crash replied before Luna had a chance, "After Sash destorying that boulder and sending Tropy to somewhere that Luna said that I've been, it better be!"

Hearing this, Nathan knew what was going on: Uka-Uka knew that Luna knew that where the relics were hidden.

"This is not good."

"I know," the she-wolf said, sensing the ex-Cortex's distress, "but we've got a plan to stop this latest attempt of controlling the world by your uncle."

"I hope that's true." Nathan said. Then, his eyes narrowed to the female werewolf as he recalled one of her most recent actions of that day and said, "What were you thinking when you took Crash with you to Japan?"

"How else was I going to concentrate with Crash being targeted by those masks and that over-sized 'Arnold-coot?'"

Nathan sighed out as he realized that Coco was right once again about the same subject. Crash's safety was important, since over the years since Crash's first victory over Neo Cortex, Crash was being seen as a symbol of hope on the Wumpa Islands' residents, even his former enemies, like Pinstripe Potoroo.

"I hate it when you're right." The raven haired man sighed out at Luna's answer after a moment of thoughtful consideration.

"Only if it's about the bad things." Luna giggled, sensing the young man's frustration.

"We've got bigger problems." Coco announced as she noticed the screen's image change into the image of Mario Potoroo.

"What is it, Mario?" Nathan turned to the teenaged potoroo on the screen.

_"The earthquakes are getting worse!"_ Mario announced as one of the quakes shook the young potoroo's headquarters.

The sight of the events on the screen aroused a concern in everyone that saw it, and Aku-Aku was the first to voice his worry.

"Things are getting worse."

"You can say that again." Luna folded her arms as she nodded her head in agreement.

Crash and Coco exchanged looks; Luna was usually the one who would shout out an happy-go-lucky approach to the situation. So, hearing that statement that flew out of Luna's lips was nothing short of surprising to them.

"Well," the werewolf returned to her normal behavior, "we've got our secret weapons."

"What do you mean?" Crash asked the wolf girl, whose reply was a bright smile.

"You have a good point." The dark haired boy grinned as Crash tried to figure what the two humans were talking about.

"What weapons?"

"You've forgotten already, Crash?" Luna eyed the male bandicoot.

"What are talking about, guys?" Crash asked again, still confused with Luna's and Nathan's words.

Annoyed with her brother's lack of understanding, Coco shouted at him with the following statement: "They're talking about you and the staff!"

"Me?" Crash asked her younger sister, "They want me to fight Crunch and the Elementals?"

"Not by yourself." Luna added, whirling the ancient staff in her hand.

"How are we going to do that?" The concerned Crash asked the werewolf in a fit of anger towards her.

"You might not like the part that you're gonna play as," The she-wolf expressed her own concern before allowing a smile to appear on her face, "but if this works, facing Cortex would be the worse part of the whole thing for you."

Crash sighed, defeated by Luna's abnormal logic and asked after a moment of hesitation, "What do I have to do?"

"I'll explain it." Luna coaxed the bandicoot to come closer to her. Once Crash was close enough, Luna started to talk to him about her plan.

* * *

On Gun Island, Crash and Aku-Aku hopped out of the wormhole before it vanished into thin air. The bandicoot, although he was still worried about Crunch and the Elementals, bravely went into the urbanized jungle that was the heart of the large island. The old mask was proud of Crash, but he was also hopeful that Luna would come through for the male bandicoot against the horrible masks.

In a moment's notice, a quake rumbled, causing Crash to lose his balance and fall onto his backside.

"Ow!" The bandicoot exclaimed in his pain, "What was that?"

"An earthquake..." Aku-Aku said, recalling the last time any earthquakes were detected on the Wumpa Islands, "This is Rok-Ko's doing."

"Rok-Ko?" The bandicoot asked the guardian of the three islands, "Who's that?"

"Rok-Ko is the Earth Elemental, and he has the personality of a bully." The old mask answered the question, "However, it does not mean that he is harmless by any means."

"Great..." Crash moaned out loud, more worried about his safety than before, "I just hope that Luna's plan's a good one."

"For your sake, I hope so too." Aku-Aku replied, just as concerned as the young bandicoot.

"Let's get going then!" Crash sighed out, "The sooner I get this over with, the sooner Luna can stop the masks, and I can avoid being crunched by Crunch."

"That's not gonna help ya out, Bandi-dork!" A gruff voice mocked the duo as the sound echoed throughout the metal jungle.

"Is that Rok-Ko?" The bandicoot asked the mask, who answered bluntly and informally, "Yep."

Then, the Earth Elemental appeared in front of the duo and started to taunt them, but mostly Crash.

"So, this is the twerp that Balloon-Head couldn't beat in a rigged fight? Don't look like much!"

Crash knew right away that the 'Balloon-Head' was Neo Cortex, but the bandicoot did not like being dismissed so quickly by anyone, even an enemy.

"Hey,-"

However, the bandicoot was ignored by the Elemental, who turned his insults to Aku-Aku.

"So, you're trying to fix things up again? Ha! Good luck with this loser!"

"Hey!" Crash confronted the evil mask; the bandicoot could handle being insulted and mocked, but he was not about to let anyone to bad mouth Aku-Aku, whether or not if anyone was good or evil. Then, he added, " You might be able to control the earth, but I won't allow you to make fun of Aku-Aku, even if it was him that messed up the last time!"

This was unexpected to the mentor mask; Crash was always so laidback and uninterested in things that were beyond wumpa fruit and napping. That defensive statement was proving that Crash was more than just a lucky guy when it came to saving the world.

"You want some this?" Shouted the bullying mask, get close to Crash's stern and expressionless face. Then, Rok-Ko mocked the bandicoot, "Ha! Wimp!"

"You don't scare me." Crash growled, showing his gritted teeth to the Elemental.

"Shocking." A voice rang out to the group.

Crash and Aku-Aku turned around and saw the one person that one of heroes of the Wumpa Islands was fearing to face: Crunch Bandicoot.

"Oh, boy..." The red-orange bandicoot exclaimed under his breath as the larger bandicoot advanced towards him.

"Look out, Fuzzhead," RoK-Ko barked out to the young Crash, "Me and Crunch is going to faltten you to a plup!"

Crash wanted to be with his friends at that point, but he knew his friends would be there soon to assist him in defeating Rok-Ko and Crunch, whom he believed to be extremely frightening to him.

"Ha," the larger bandicoot smirked darkly at Crash, "it looks like that Cortex had a reason to send me out here with the dumb mask; the rat's got one too."

The earth mask shouted in agreement, "That's right!" Then, he realized what the maroon bandicoot had said, causing Rok-Ko to shout at Crunch, "Hey, Musclebrain, I just what this stupid job to be over with too!"

"Job?" Aku-Aku asked out loud, and oddly enough, Crash was the one who provided the answer.

"They're here to kill us."

"You're smarter than you look." Crunch maintained the grim grin, "Too bad that I have to exterminate you."

"Oh, no..." Crash wimpered under his breath as he watched Rok-Ko fused himself and his earth-related powers to Crunch.

By having the Earth Elemental placed onto his face, Crunch's body changed in color and flesh. The bandicoot's fur was converted to an earthy shades of greens and yellows. The form of Crunch, which included the robotic right arm, became stone-like in texture.

Crash and Aku-Aku knew right away that they needed to be on their guard if they wanted to survive this fight.

Then, the transformed Crunch pounded his fist onto the ground, starting a powerful earthquake, which caused many tree to fall to the ground. Some of the falling flora nearly landed on the red-orange bandicoot and the colorful mask.

"Whoa!" Crash exclaimed after dodging one of the last of falling trees, "That's too close!"

"We may have evaded the hazard that surround the earth," Aku-Aku spoke in a worried tone of voice, "but they'll try something else."

"Of course." Moaned the semi-herioc Crash, "I've should have known."

Following the earthquake, the seemingly geokinetic being stomped the earth under his feet and summoned earth-made spikes, which came out in a fast speed and towards Crash!

The young bandicoot, sensing that his time had come, slammed his eyes shut as he waited for the impact that was going to take his life. However, the only impact that Crash felt was being hit in the stomach, which send him into the air from a few seconds before landing onto the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw Crunch's face, which was twisted with the same shock that Crash felt.

"Are you all right, Crash?" The guardian's voice rang into the bandicoot's ears.

Then, Crash realized what had happened: Aku-Aku had placed himself onto Crash's face, which prevented Crunch's earth-related attack from being fatal.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Crash sighed in relief, "Thanks."

"I would not start feeling grateful yet." Aku-Aku announced, frowning in a stern manner, "I do have a limit, when it comes to maintaining my protective shield."

"Oh, no..." The young bandicoot moaned once more before wishing out loud, "Where's Luna when I need her."

At that moment, another portal opened, and the staff that was taken from the shrine, which was guard and maybe owned by Sash's father, fell out of the portal and landed next to the Aku-Aku masked Crash.

"Maybe that's Luna's way of helping you." The colorful mask chuckled, recalling Luna's sense of humor.

Crash didn't care at that moment; he was about to be pummeled by a bandicoot that was larger and endowed with the powers of the earth.

"That mask and that stick weren't going to help you much." The Rok-Ko masked Crunch charged at the duo-made-one.

Crash, in a moment of panic, noticed something shining and sharp on the other end of the staff. Making a guess, Crash readied himself to aim the butt of the staff at Crunch. Once Crunch was close enough, the smaller bandicoot stabbed the bottom of the staff into Crunch's face.

Upon the impact, a bright yellow arua surrounded that staff and Crunch, and Rok-Ko freed an agonizing scream from his mouth before the earth Elemental exploded, which sent Crash and Aku-Aku to one direction and Crunch to another. A few seconds passed before the topaz arua, which covered the staff and larger of the bandicoot, dispersed from everyone's sight.

Sensing no more danger, Aku-Aku pulled himself from Crash's face and saw Crunch, who was returning to his feet by using the tree that he was sent to by the blast.

"Doesn't matter!" The brute bandicoot vented out his pain through his words and voice volume, "I can still beat that field rat in no time!"

However, he could not carry out his threat, or carry out his mission, due the untimely disappearence of the darker and larger bandicoot.

This was a sight for relief for Aku-Aku, who said, "Thank goodness for that."

"Whoa..." The moan from Crash grabbed the ancient mask's attention, "That's a ride I don't wanna ride again..."

"I honestly wish that it wouldn't happen again," Aku-Aku replied to the remaining bandicoot, "but as long as Cortex and Uka-Uka have the three remaining Elementals, we must expect similar situations, like the one we've managed escape this time."

Once Crash and Aku-Aku had returned to the "base" with the staff, they were greeted by their friends.

"Great job, guys!" Nathan's smiled brightly as he welcomed his oldest friends.

"I knew you guys could do it!" Coco jumped and leaped in her joy.

"Good use of the staff of Saratahiko-Okami." Luna gave the returning duo a thumbs-up, "The guy wouldn't done it better than himself."

"Thanks." The bandicoot blushed at the werewolf's comment.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Aku-Aku modestly replied.

The werewolf laughed with her mouth wide open before she stated, "Don't be so modest, Aku-Aku! Saratahiko-Okami is not coming here anytime soon!"

Crash wanted to grin, but he was not sure if he could.

"Well, guys," Coco spoke up, grabbing the attention of the room, "good news is that the earthquakes have stopped on Gun Island!"

"Yeah," Nathan added pessimisticly, "but floods are engulfing N. Sanity Island."

"What do you mean by that?" The red-headed bandicoot asked, scratching his head.

"What they mean is..." Luna started speaking, not exactly sure how to state the statement, "it's disappearing..."

"Huh?"

"Wa-Wa is flooding the island, hoping to keep the remaining Elementals from being imprisoned again." Aku-Aku announced grimly.

"What!?" Coco shouted, "That's not right!"

"I agree you on that, Coco..." Nathan started to explain to the youngest bandicoot, and Luna finished by saying, "However, some people don't care if their actions hurt others."

This was disheartening to the little bandicoot, and Pura had sensed this before coming to Coco's side in an attempt to comfort her.

Looking at tiger cub, Coco said, "Thanks, Pura."

"Now, this is explained," the wolf girl broke the moment with her mouth, "I better get going to the next stop. I better dress warmly."

"Why do you need to dress warm?" Crash asked Luna, who replied, "I hate the cold."


	5. Chapter 5

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Five

A coat-claded Luna had arrived at a patch of a forest that was not unlike the one she entered when she visited the temple that her cousin and uncle took care of, but it was nearby the sea. Following her was Aku-Aku, who lacked the scenory nerves to feel discomfort from the cold.

"Luna," the guardian of the three Wumpa Islands asked a question, "why did you not allow Crash to come with us this time?"

The werewolf managed to answer through her chattering teeth.

"Well, Sash told my uncle about the bandicoots and the others on the islands, which prepared him for seeing Crash, but that's because he was a member of my blood cousin's pack. The next three beam riders that we're going to encounter doesn't know about the animals on the islands."

"Well, that's true." The mask responded to the answer, "Then, I can understand why Crash is not here now."

"Good to hear." The she-wolf grabbed at her coat, making it come closer to her cold body, "I say let's get going! I would really like for us to get this job over with; I hate the cold."

Aku-Aku chuckled; he was used to Luna's playful 'complaints,' but he knew very well that she was been honest, despite her smile quivering on lips semi-blue lips. Then, he said, "We need to go; led the way, Luna."

"Don't need to be told twice." The freezing werewolf replied to her ally before she dashed off to the direction of the water relic's hiding place.

The she-wolf's dash was quick, when she found a tent made of animal skins and bones. Upon seeing the made-shift home, Luna started to shout out at the tent.

"Hey, Anningan, let a fellow wolf in!"

A confused grunt echoed from the skin and bone tent, causing Luna jump up and down as she shouted out one more thing: "IKKII!"

Then, a man of Inuit shamanism poked his head out of the house, allowing Luna to dash into the tent as fast as she could. This action by Luna nearly caused the silver haired man to fall to the ground.

"Sorry about that, Anningan," Luna was sitting nearby a small fire, "but I was freezing in the cold."

The golden-eyed guardian of the relic shook his head, knowing the girl's dislike of cold climates. Then, he became serious, also knowing well enough that if Luna was in the cold, it was for an emergency.

"Luna," the tent-dweller spoke in English, "what brings you to one of the few places that you lack any love to? Does it have anything to do with the sudden changes in weather?"

"Yes to both questions." The brunette girl said as the chattering in her teeth lessened, "I've even brought one of the guardians with me to help retreive the axe of Sedna's father."

"I already know of that," the guardian smiled in a fatherly manner, "the mask's appearence at your side told me of that truth."

Luna grinned with a strong chattering from her teeth.

"Please," Aku-Aku spoke to the guardian of the water relic, "can you take us to the relic's resting place?"

"I shall." Anningan nodded to the ancient mask.

"Back out into the cold again?!" The brunette exclaimed, wanting to stay close to the fire in the tent, "Can't we go after some time to warm up?"

The old man laughed, saying, "Luna just has a bad dislike towards the cold that she is unaccustiomed to."

"I know about that," the mask shook in a disagreeing moment, "but I wish Luna would remember that the three islands are in trouble."

"I know that the Wumpa Islands are endangered by the Elementals!" Barked the young werewolf, "I just wished that it wasn't in the cold."

"No time for complaints, Luna!" Aku-Aku said half-angerly, "We have a world to save!"

Defeated, a weak smile graced on Luna's face as she said, "I hate it when they're right."

As the young she-wolf rose to her feet and from the warmth of the fire, Anningan summoned his mystic powers, allowing his body to be covered with the silver aura and change into an ethereal, wolf-like form.

"Grab on!" Luna shouted out to Aku-Aku as the moon mystic whirled in the tent without knocking down anything.

The colorful mask would have obeyed, if he had hands, but he did follow the two wolfs as the three of them sailed the skies as the flew over the land. The journey lasted for a few moments when they arrived at the opening of a cave. All three of them landing safely and looked into the cave.

"This is the place." Luna announced before Aku-Aku had a chance to say anything in a form of a question.

The mask looked at Luna, who half-scrolled and half-jogged into the opening of the cave. Making sure that he was not left behind, Aku-Aku followed her into the mouth of the earthen opening.

Anningan also followed, but he stopped at the mouth, knowing well enough that Luna was the only one who could pass through the traps without being harmed.

"Luna," the older moon mystic shouted as the brunette she-wolf's image faded into the darkness with Aku-Aku's, "good luck and be careful!"

"I will!" The female werewolf's voice echoed through the cave and to the shamanic werewolf's ears.

The older man's lips curved into a smile, knowing that Luna was going to be unharmed, but he still had a worry in his mind: Luna had only being in the cave a few times, and she had been in the other resting places of the ancient relics.

"I hope that girl finds the relic." Anningan's smile weakened upon his statement.

* * *

Then, an unfamiliar sound rang out and reached into the shaman's ears, causing him to turned around and see a flying craft soaring towards the cave.

"Well," a smug smile formed on the old man's face upon seeing the flying machine, "things have definitely become interesting."

Inside the cave, Luna and Aku-Aku weaved and bobbed through the traps that were made to protect the axe that belonged to the father of Sedna, knowing that could not allow Cortex and Uka-Uka to win through the efforts of the Elementals.

Upon taking a rest break, Luna laughed at herself as she made a comment to Aku-Aku.

"I'm doing better than I thought."

"Luna," the old mask formed a question," these moon mystics seemed to be very similar in appearence. They are related to each other in a way, right?"

The brunette was a little shocked about the sudden inquiry, but she recovered her composure and swiftly answered the question.

"Well, in a way. The beam riders are related to each other, but this connection has been around a lot longer than the relics and the hiding places."

"May I ask why?"

"You can," the she-wolf replied half-heartedly, "but I can gurantee no answer that is clear."

"Well," the mask thought for a moment, "what is your idea about them?"

This time, Luna took a second and more to think before she answered that question.

"Well, I think that the beam riders were blessed by a supreme being or a divine god as a way for humanity to protect themselves, but Sash's theory said the same when it came to werewolves."

"So, even the werewolves know nothing about the origins of the world and themselves." The feathered mask smiled at Luna, who said, "Who would what to know everything about everything? Sounds like one big headache to me."

Hearing the response, Aku-Aku could only laugh.

"Hey, I'm just saying the truth!" Luna responded to the laughter that was flowing from the mask's mouth.

"I know, but your expression was funny!" The mask laughed out.

Then, a loud noise echoed throughout the earthern tunnel, ceasing all of the laughter between the two friends.

"I don't think that was a friend." Aku-Aku spoke out.

"I think Cortex or Uka-Uka is trying to get to us." Luna agreed in a different manner.

Then, the duo dashed off and continued to evade traps until they had reached their goal: the axe of Sedna's father.

"We've made it!" Luna hopped with joy, "Just one more trap left!"

"How can you say that in a happy tone!?" The mask gasped at Luna's statement.

"What?" The she-wolf responded to the question, "If thing's should get worse, we have each other and the axe to help escape from the trap!"

Huffing out a laugh, Aku-Aku smiled, realizing that the female was right before saying, "Let's do it."

"Right!" The werewolf smiled as she ran to the weapon.

As Luna grabbed the relic of Sedna, the platform shook and sunk into the ground, leaving the blue-eyed girl wide-eyed.

"That's not good." Luna said in her shock.

Then, the ground shook, causing the cave's walls to crumble and allow the ice-cold seawater to enter the cave.

"Oh, boy..." The mask saw the icy water starting to fill up the room.

"You staying?" Luna asked before adding, "I'm not and off!"

Then, Luna ran as she could, knowing that if the water was much worse in the cold air than being dry in the winter air.

However, she tripped on a piece of rock and fall to the ground; in a normal situation, Luna would have noticed the rock and dodged it with great ease. In her state of panic, Luna failed to notice and evade the protruding stone.

"Owwwww!"

Then, the werewolf heard the gush of water rushing towards the entrance of the cave, which caused Luna to become distressed.

"Noooo..." The she-wolf started to cried in a childish manner, not wanting to be all wet.

Then, the water grabbed the girl and whisked her out of the cave. Meeting Anningan at the open air, the wave of water dispersed.

"Luna, are you okay?" Aku-Aku's voice called out to her.

"I think so." Luna looked around for the mask, but she could not find him, "Hey, where are ya?"

"Luna," the mask spoke up, "you didn't notice?"

"No."

Then, a bright light flashed in front of Luna's eyes, and a moment passed before the mask known as Aku-Aku was in place of the light.

"What just happened?" Luna asked, but she noticed something on her shins before she received her answer.

"COLLLLLD!"

The wet on her pants to the winter air caused a great discofort to the werewolf. Then, she realized that only a part of her legs and not the rest of her person.

"You fused yourself in me?" Luna asked, "Unless I'm dreaming, that sounds like the only explaination I can think of."

"And it's true." Aku-Aku smiled, causing Luna to smile as well.

"Thanks, Aku-Aku."

Then, the friendly realization was interrupted by the sounds of the rockets blasting and bursting out in the air. However, this did not stop the duo from smiling, which they knew was going on.

"I think I can help Anningan now." Grinned the she-wolf as she removed her restricting coat.

"I'll be of any help if you need it." The mask continued to smile at the werewolf, who changed her form from human to lupine-like.

The she-wolf dashed off to the site of the battle, enduring the cold and the snow of the land to reach it, and found the beam form of the guardian of Sedna's relic in combat with a familiar looking machine.

"N. Gin?" Exclaimed Luna in a growling manner, and then she grinned and added, "Easy game."

Then, she jumped into the air, seemingly disappearing into thin air, and landed onto the aircraft, surpring the driver, whose identity that Luna assumed correctly.

"Hey!" The distroted and amplified voice of N. Gin shouted at the werewolf that was on his aircraft, "Get off of my ship!"

"I've got something to do before I do that." Luna's muzzle maintained the grin that Luna liked to hold on her face, whether or not it was human or wolf-like.

Listening to the engine of the craft, the huge werewolf went straight to the source withtin a few moments. Quickly and powerfully, Luna tore open a huge hole and started tearing into the engine, causing the driver to yell at her again.

"Don't do that!"

"Too late!" Mocked the wolfgirl as she finished her destructive work.

The engine fumed smoke and flames as the mechanics malfunctioned, sending the craft into a tailspin.

"No!" N. Gin's voice echoed out, losing control of the machine.

"Yes!" Luna joked at the driver, and then she shouted out to Anningan, "Yo, your sevre!"

As the brown werewolf hopped off in the comically style, like one jumping off the diving board of a swimming pool, Anningan, in his ethereal, wolf-like form, flew at the falling airship and knocked it back into the air, sending it and its driver off to a far distance.

"And its outta here!" Luna howled with excitement upon seeing the ship's departure as her form changed to the human shape.

Aku-Aku laughed out at Luna's exclaimation, knowing that she was enjoying herself before he added, "I don't think that he'll be back to bother us anytime soon."

"Espeically since he's going to take some time to moan and try to repair his aircraft." Luna grinned semi-darkly as she was given her coat, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." The mask replied to the werewolf.

"Can I say my gratitude now?" The voice of the werwolf shaman grabbed the attention of the duo.

"Oops!" Luna smiled half-sheepishly at the man known as Anningan, "Sorry 'bout that."

"That is no harm in a reminder." Anningan responded, "I hope that you and the guardian are successful in your journey."

"Thank you," Aku-Aku nodded his mask form to the man, "but what will you do now?"

"I shall leave for the werewolf village that is only a few miles from here and comfort my people in this time of crisis."

Hearing the old man's answer gave a smile on each of the duo's faces, and each gave their own comment about it.

"That's good to hear, Anningan." Luna smiled brightly at the shaman/moon mystic.

Aku-Aku followed the she-wolf's words, saying, "I agree; they need you now more than ever before."

"May you two and whomever may be on your side by safe in your ventures and battles against the evil masks." The silver haired man blessed the duo and their friends that were not present before departing to the werewolf tribe that lived nearby.

"Hey!" Luna spoke up, "We better get going too!"

"Yes," the colored mask agreed with the werewolf, "we'd better. The others would worry about us soon enough."

Then, they ran off from a couple of mintues before Luna opened a portal that allowed her and Aku-Aku to return to Wumpa Island and their friends.


	6. Chapter 6

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Six

Upon returning to Wumpa Island with Sedna's axe, Luna and Aku-Aku learned through Nathan and Coco that N. Sanity Island was neaaring the point that the island would be completely engulfed into the sea. In addition to that, blocks of ice have been seen around the island, and most of them have grown bigger in the time that Luna and Aku-Aku had been gone. As if things were not bad enough at the time, Crash, in a moment of both nobility and idiocy, willing went to the sinking island to check of Baby-T, the young dinosaur that he rescued from Cortex's robots in their time-traveling adventure.

"This isn't good." The werewolf shook her head, "I know Baby-T's our friend, mostly Crash's, but she in a speicalized chamber that prevents a cretain amount and kind of water to enter the enviroment. Why would Crash rush off to her rescue?

"That part would be my fault." Coco confessed as the young bandicoot looked at Luna meekly, "I had said something about if the chamber being crushed if it was in deep enough water."

"What?!" The werewolf slapped her own face out of annoyance and a reminder to control herself.

"I was trying to ease the tension in the room." Coco was quick to defened herself, "I didn't think that Crash would painc like that."

With a deep sigh, Nathan turned to Luna and asked her for a favor.

"Luna, could you make sure that Crash isn't being murdered by Crunch and see that he gets the relic."

Looking at the axe, which was still in her hand since she had obtained it, Luna agreed with a nodded, but she also added, "Besides, it makes things more interesting."

Nathan sighed deeply again as he pressed the computer keys to activate the portal, and he looked worrisome when the she-wolf entered the vortex that led to the island that he met Crash for the first time.

As Luna exited out of the portal, the last thing that she had expected was being met by three feet of seawater or how cold it would be upon entering it.

"Whoa!" Luna stuttered as she leaped onto a nearby tree, "That's cold!"

Taking a good look around, she saw the crashing of water, which usually was made when waves of water hit the shore, but in that case, she knew it was the Water Elementals and Crunch that was causing the crashes this time.

"I better check that out. Hopfully, Crash isn't in that mess... yet." Luna spoke to herself before she started on her 'tree-to-tree' trek, knowing well enough that Crash might be in trouble.

* * *

Crash was in the mouth of the waterfall, and Baby-T was there in her speical chamber that Nathan and Coco had built after Crash brought her home after the third encounter with Neo Cortex. While the bio-dome was being built, Dr. Brio, in the safety of the blimp that was once Neo Cortex's, managed to genetically altered the little dinosaur to prevent her from growing very much, much to Nathan's dismay.

"Come on, Baby-T!" Barked the teenage bandicoot as he attemped to pull the dinosaur to safety of Wumpa Island.

The smaller tyrannosaurs rex refused and firmly stood her ground, refusing to leave her preferred home. When Crash tried to pull her with the rope that he had brought, Baby-T used her razor-sharp teeth to disconnect the rope in one chomp, which send Crash into a roll that led him off of the chamber.

Once the bandicoot recovered from his unusual spin, he looked at Baby-T and said, "That's not going to stop me from helping you to safety!"

The response from the tiny t-rex was a loud raspberry, showing that Brio also altered her thinking pattern, and that annoyed Crash, who charged at the door and the dinosaur, who was quick enough to go a button on the wall with her snout. This caused the door to shut quickly, which led to Crash living up to his namesake once again.

As he recovered from slamming into the door, the orange mammal shouted out to the occupying reptile, "Don't come crying to me, if your place crunches you into a ball of scales!"

As Crash rubbed his aching nose with one hand and his sore head with another, a sound that sounded like something was cracking reached the hero's sensitive ears.

"What's that?" The bandicoot asked, hoping that one of his friends would jump out of a portal and give him an answer.

Instead of one of his allies, the answer came when a stampede of ice came up the waterfall, freezing any water that came into contact with it. The ice halted, allowing the unfrozen water to build up and slide over the ice to reach the waterfall.

Seeing this made Crash uneasy, as he recalled what Coco had told him about water and how it could change into the three basic states of matter, which were soild when ice, liquid when in its know state and steam when it was a gas. Seeing the ice also reminded the teen bandicoot that the Elemental that his was about to face was the one that could control water and all of the states of matter it could be in, feeling a sense of dread upon seeing the river freezing most of it.

Then, the water that was left untouched by ice started to shape, and Crash recongized the form as soon as the body was shaped.

"Crunch!"

The water form laughed darkly as he said, "You remembered; it would be touching if I wasn't going to drown your tail."

The reply shook the teen bandicoot badly, but Crash did try to recover from his shock.

"Well, I don't need some evil mask's help to you."

"Good." Crunch responded to the weak insult, "That's the one thing we can agree with, but Doctor Cortex wanted me to it anyway."

This confused Crash greatly, but before the smaller male could ask any more questions, the Water Elemental appeared on Crunch's face.

"Back off, wimp!" The mask shouted at the teen mammal in a voice that should be coming from a drill sergeant, "You're not going to get in my way!"

Crash was definitely surprised by the appearance of the Elemental, but that was nothing compared to what he heard from behind him!'

"You will not succeed this time!"

Turning around, Crash saw the owner of the voice and smiled, grateful that he came in the nick of time.

"Aku-Aku!"

The islands' guardian floated to Crash's side, seemingly unafraid of the evil mask and the bandicoot that did not want to work with it. Aku-Aku was ready to enter combat.

"I thought you said you didn't need a mask's help." Crunch mocked Crash, who was quick to respond by saying, "Only if they're evil."

The response was not well-taken by Crunch, who proceed to attack the bandicoot.

"Aku-Aku, go get help!" Crash managed to say as he evaded the first thrown punch, but he was hit by a side of the larger bandicoot's fist. In a quick recovery, the three-time hero managed to dodge more of the punches, but this lasted only a few seconds longer than the last time. Soon, Crash was on the ground when Crunch managed to land a kick to the stomach.

"Ow!" Crash held a hand on his belly, "That's gonna left a mark."

Wasting no time, the marroon bandicoot charged at Crash once more as he turned his right arm into a spike of ice. As the larger of the bandicoots was about to impale Crash, the hero of the islands quickly got to his feet and attacked Crunch. However, Crash's plan did not go well; when Crash lunged at the bigger bandicoot, all it did was get Crash on the floor again as well as soaking wet.

"That's not a bad plan." Crunch commented to his opponent as his arm returned to its normal shape, "However, you've forgotten that I'm fused with Wa-Wa, the Water Elemental."

"Oh, right." Crash muttered under his breath as Crunch approched him.

"Now, back to business..." Crunch said as he cracked his knuckles of ice, "Now that you're all washed up, it's time to wring you out."

As Crash looked up at his would-be punisher, a curse slipped out of his mouth as he readied himself for the worse. Then, he noticed something behind Crunch's transparent body.

Then, a cry echoed throughout the cave that housed the mouth of the waterwall, grabbing the attentions of the fighting bandicoots.

"BONNNNZAIIII!"

Turning around and looking up, Crunch looked at the one voiced out the cry: Luna.

The female werewolf was in the air with the axe that belonged to Sedna's father, and the blade hit its mark: Wa-Wa, the Water Elemental that was on Crunch's face. The she-wolf managed to hold on to the handle as the evil mask was screaming in pain, and the energy that controlled the water surrounded the two forms of Crunch and Luna, whom were blown back from each other.

Crash, who was smart enough to duck when Crunch flew over him, saw a blue-green aura surrounded itself around Crunch, and then the smaller bandicoot looked at Luna, who lacked the aura that the axe had.

Then, Crash went to Luna's side and found the werewolf unconscious from a blunt blow to the head, which hit the cave's wall. Crash was not worried; Luna had been hit on the head several times with blows that would have killed a normal human, and she had recovered each time due to her fast healing and powerful endurence.

"Looks like Luna got the worse end of that deal." Crash joked, failing to realized that someone was behind him.

"Yeah," Crunch growled, grabbing the orange bandicoot's attention, "and you're going to get the worse end of my fist!"

Before Crunch could even grab Crash, a strong pain manifested itself on his backside, and it caused him to leap into the air to escape the source of pain. Groaning from the pain, Crunch turned around and was Baby-T with two pieces of cloth in her mouth: one was of the marroon bandicoot's camouflage pants and the other piece was white with red polka dots.

Then, Crash saw the dinosaurs's work and started to laugh hard. Soon enough, Luna, who recovered from her injury, joined in the laughter.

Crunch, whose face was neon-red, growled as he was teleported out of the cave by an outside force, which was Cortex's doing.

Once Crunch was gone and the laughter subsided, Crash and Luna went to the small dionsaur and praised her for her part of defeating Crunch.

"Way to go, Baby-T!" Crash thanked his friend, who still had the pieces of cloth in her mouth.

"The look on Crunch's face almost makes me wish that I haven't kicked the habit myself." Luna laughed, which earned a dirty look from Crash.

Luna had told them, her friends, that she once had a bad habit of biting people in the backside when she was much younger. Oddly enough, werewolves rarely bit people on the backsides, according to Sash.

"Luna," Aku-Aku's voice echoed as a colorful aura formed from the werewolf's body, "I wish you wouldn't say things like that."

The she-wolf just cackled; she enjoyed watch people being disgusted and expressing it facially. Of course, she would expect that someone would get back at her in some fashion, but the werewolf did not really concern herself with that sort of matter.

Soon, Luna intentionally forgot her enjoyment and went to the half-frozen river with Sedna's axe in her hands.

"Okay," the teen wolf held out the axe in her hand, "time to go to work."

As she took a moment clear her mind, the relic that held the power to control water started to glow in the same aura color as it did recently. Then, Luna's eyes snapped open, and she took a stomp-like step towards the ice, putting the axe in front of herself in a push-like manner.

In the action from Luna, the ice unfroze and melted back to water. As the ice melted and the water warmed up, the water that was engulfing N. Sanity Island started to wane, allowing the islanders to leave the boats they have been staying in since the water started to rise.

"Wow!" Crash said as he watched the waters move from N. Sanity Island and back to the sea.

"I did a pretty good job." Luna half-boasted and half-blushed at herself.

"Now, that is over with," Aku-Aku stated, "let's go back to Wumpa Island; the others are waiting for us."

"Right." Luna nodded in agreed, but then she added, "Let's get Baby-T back to her enviroment first though."

Baby-T was saddened by the announced to the point that the pieces of fabric slipped out of her mouth; she did not want her friends to leave.

"Sorry, Baby-T." The red-orange marsupial spoke to the dinosaur, "It's for the best."

The tiny reptile sighed deeply before it ran off to its home, and following her was Crash, Luna and Aku-Aku. When the dinosaur entered the enclosure, Baby-T's friends said their farewells and closed the door, preventing the tyrannosaurs rex from following them.

"Let go." Luna said as she activated her portal with the watch that Nathan had built.

"Good idea," the anicent mask agreed in an half-stern and half-worried tone of voice, "because it's something going on at Wumpa Island."

This sent a wave of concern in the altered Crash and the semi-wild Luna, which caused the two of them to follow Aku-Aku into the portal.


	7. Chapter 7

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Seven

After defeating Crunch for the second time, Crash, Aku-Aku and Luna returned to portal room and was greeted by Nathan and Coco. After a few moments of talking, Luna put in a set of coordinates into the computer and managed to convince Nathan to join her and Aku-Aku for the trip.

Once in the hot and humid jungle, Nathan yelled at Luna for tricking him into going coming with her.

"Luna, I'm going to get you for this!"

The she-wolf in human skin and the ancient mask giggled as she led the former hier of the Cortex clan to the temple that held the relic that they needed for the fight against the Elementals.

Soon, Nathan found himself and his friends in front of a vine-covered and apparently ruined temple. Confused, the young man saw the brunette werwolf enter the ruined building.

"Luna!" Nathan yelled at the female werewolf as he chased after her with Aku-Aku.

As the trio finally entered the building's interior, which was as covered with vegeation as the exterior was, Nathan saw that the place was inhabited by people, even with the vines and local wildlife that was in the place. Once more, the self-proclaimed Charles called out to Luna.

"Luna, we have to be careful around here."

"Not at all." Luna replied with a sly grin, "If anyone should be afraid of anything, it's you, and that's only because of your lack of a certain part of your genetic structure."

"You mean I'm the threating one because of my lack of lycanthropy?" Nathan raised an eyebrow at the sight of Luna.

"Bingo." The werewolf said without looking at the male human, who ran after her, and Aku-Aku followed them until they reached a blocked-off exit of the ruined temple.

"So," Nathan held his thought and word for a second before adding, "where to next?"

"What makes you so sure that I know?" Luna smiled cunningly at Nathan, who answered with a curt grin of his own, "Well, I know that you've been in every temple, where each of the relics were hidden in."

"Well," The she-wolf mused for a quick second, "you're right."

Then, Luna went to a nearby column, cracked her knuckles, spat into her hand, which she rubbed together with each other, and started to push the column. With the powerful push, Luna revealed an opening beneath the column.

"Why am I not surprised about that?" The dark-haired young man announced, sending echoes throughout the ruined building.

"That's because you're smart enough to know better." Luna winked at him in a flirting manner, but Nathan completely missed it's true meaning, which annoyed Luna a little before she led the team into the hole.

As the trio passed through the tunnel, they encountered spiderwebs, both old and new, darkness, and collisions into walls, but this was mostly Nathan than Luna and Aku-Aku. Nathan often took a wrong turn, but Luna's night vision and powerful sense of smell allowed her to go after Nathan and prevent him from going to the wrong way. Luna, however, could not prevent herself from running into a few cobwebs from time to time. Aku-Aku also ended up being tangled in webs himself, which Luna and Nathan often help him in removing it from his feathers.

Finally, the lone female of the trio found the exit of the tunnel and into the sunlight, which all three of them were happy to see once more; Nathan was the most relieved of the group as well as the most annoyed.

"Luna," the lone pure human turned his attention to the werewolf, "why did we go through that tunnel, when we could have climbed out of the temple; I've noticed that there's a hole in the temple."

"That's true, Nathan." Luna confessed to the angered Nathan, "But that's the native entrance, which is heavily guarded by some of the strongest members of this very pack."

"I don't think I understand." The human male said as Luna started leading the group to their destination.

"Well," the female of the group explained, "there's three trails in all to prove that you're a child born and/or raised in this villiage. The first is the test of shine: this test is determined by having a certain ornament that the one that is raised in the villiage, because if you don't have it, you'll end up with chakrams being thrown at you, and those things are hard to dodge.

"The second test is the test of speed, which is pretty self-explainatory: get in and out of the jungle... quick! Plus there's traps littered throughout the place, and only one that was raised in the villiage could know where all of the traps are at.

"And the final test is also self-explainatory: the test of smell, because a werewolf's scent is their personal ID card, and even if they've forgotten about it, they'll never leave it at home."

"And if they fail that test?" Aku-Aku and Nathan asked in unison, which Luna answered by saying, "They break your neck with their bare hands."

With a loud gulp, Nathan said in a shakened voice, "Isn't that a little extreme?"

"To you and me, yes, but to them, no." Luna answered bluntly as she lead the team to a temple that was ancient, but it was kept better than the one they were in earlier. Then, she added to her last statement, "You see, when the British arrived and started converting the country, some of the native werewolves embraced the change for either survival or true accpectance, while the rest opposed the sudden change in their simple lives. Those who wanted to keep their simple lives retreated to jungles, while the others stayed in the cities and the open. The urban werwolves, failing to see the reason of why the rural werewolves wanted to preserve their simple lifestyle, often tried to convince the 'non-city' werewolves that the city life is the better life, which was met with very little success."

"So, do the city werewolves use force?" Nathan asked Luna, who was quick to say, "Yes."

"But why, Luna?" Aku-Aku asked that time, and Luna was willing to answer.

"Well, they want to make sure that their point gets across, and they're not allowed to use force against the humans, so they aim at the rural werewolves as a way to release their frustations out."

"That's just wrong!" Nathan half-shouted grabbing the attention of some of the natives that were willing to be in the empty space of the villiage.

"Yeah, but it doesn't stop and slow the attacks." Luna added, expressing her regret to Nathan.

Nathan fell silent, but his mind cursed and cussed out those who would attack another part of their kind, but he was interrupted by Luna placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Don't waste your thoughts on such negative feelings; it's not good for you and us."

"Right." Nathan looked at Luna with a weak smile.

Luna knew that she failed to reach his fury and change it into something positive, but that was not going to stop her from trying. So, she took a stern approach to Nathan.

"Nathan, people have been doing this kind of nosense for thousands of years, and you're acting like it's all your fault; it's only human nature to take a direct approach with something that they feel strongly about, and sometimes it goes the wrong way."

After a few moments to think about what the werewolf said, Nathan responded to her by saying, "You're right; I'm sorry."

"Good to hear, Nathan." Smiled a pleased Luna, and Aku-Aku added, "We better get that relic."

"Right!" Luna and Nathan agreed; Luna was happy about Nathan regaining his confidence and losing his guilt.

As the group of three reached the temple, Nathan was a little surprised that the temple was plain and five stories high.

"Luna, I think there's something wrong here." Nathan announced his concerns.

"Nathan," Luna spoke out, "There's a few reasons why the temple on the simple side: There's people that would look for a rare artifact in a fancy place and not in a hidden temple that looks like it's made out of wood and stone, it shows that they're about the religion and not the gold, and besides, it was so well-blended into the jungle that the Muslims that invaded the northern part of India failed to see it."

"Okay." Nathan said, knowing that the werewolf knew what she was talking about.

As the three entered the temple, the three were confronted by several priests in brown robes with fury in their glares.

Nathan, at the moment wished he had learned some foregin languages, besides Spanish and French, but then he remembered that he had the spell of understanding cast onto him by the chief of the natives of N. Sanity Island. Also, he recalled that Luna could speak several languages as well, but he wasn't sure about Luna being able to speak the priests' language, but Luna, once again, proved Nathan wrong.

"I am Luna, daughter of Artimis Fang, and I wish to speak to the mahant of this temple, please."

"How dare you demand us to take you to Chandra!" A priest yelled at Luna, who maintained her cool composure as she said, "I know that-"

"Be silent, foreginer!" Another priest yelled at her, "You and your foolish allies are in no postion to negotiate!"

"What is happening out here?" A calm, yet powerful, voice echoed to the ears of the trio and the priests, causing them to turn their attention to a priest dressed in a white robe that had silver-white hair and yellow-gold eyes.

"Hi, Chandra!" Luna waved at the priest in white, as if she was not being interrogated by the priests in the brown robes, who were starting to be furious at the vocal she-wolf.

"Greetings to you as well, Luna." The silver-haired mahant of the temple smiled back at her.

The priests were definitely becoming more furious with her, and everyone, including Chandra, saw this.

"Please calm yourselves." Chandra spoke to the priests, "Do you not know that smell Luna brought with her the last time she was here at the temple?"

The brown-claded priests were shocked at what the mahant had said to them, so they used their noses and their highly-developed sense of smell and sniffed Luna and her friends. Upon smelling a certain scent on Luna and the others, they bowed and begged for her forgiveness.

"It's okay." Luna was quick to forgive the men for their assumptions, "In this time of crisis, people want to help, whether or not if they know how they could." Then, she turned to Chandra and asked, "Can you take us to the inner sanctum?"

"Of course." The leader of the priests nodded to her before he lead the trio to the room that Luna had mentioned.

Soon, the three had found themselves in the inner sanctum, which was an alter with a statue of Agni, which had two faces, seven arms, three legs, seven tongues and a ram underneath him.

"That's Agni?" Nathan asked Luna in a hushed tone.

"Of course." Chandra replied in place of Luna, "Agni's body represents the element of fire, which gave him the title of the fire god."

Then, the silver-haired man went to the middle of the floor, pulled out a mirror from his robes and held it in the air. The light was reflected by the mirror and went to the eyes of the statue, which glowed vermillion upon the light hitting them. Soon, the part of the floor that was at the ram's hooves opened, revealing a staircase, which rose from the floor to the ceiling.

"I wasn't expecting that!" Nathan pointed at the stairs in his shock.

"Most people don't." Chandra smiled artfully at Luna, who also had a similar smile on her own face as she said, "Most."

"Let us go." Aku-Aku spoke up, which Nathan and Luna agreed with a nod to the mask.

Then, the three of them climbed the stairs and encountered the first few traps of that floor, which was based off of the fire through friction. Luna knew how to dodge these traps, and she was quick to save Nathan and Aku-Aku from any trap that they would find themselves in.

Once at the other side of the room, where another set of stairs was at, Nathan, Luna and Aku-Aku were taking a small break from the trap, and Luna was becoming nervous about the next floor.

"What's wrong, Luna?" Aku-Aku inquiried to the werewolf, who answered with a mild blush on her face.

"It's just that I don't like the next set of traps."

"What's wrong with the next floor?" Nathan asked, which caused Luna to reply, "I don't happen to like lightning very much."

"That's what's waiting for us?"

"Yep."

"So, what's the big deal about lightning?"

With a deep sigh, Luna explained, saying, "You didn't see your cousin get hit with a lightning bolt."

"And are werewolves able to die from lightning?" Nathan asked the she-wolf, who answered that question by nodding her head as she said, "Big time, although my cousin managed to survive that."

"Well," Nathan said to Luna to calm her fears, "you're the swiftest person I know; you'll run circles around any lightning that gets in our way."

"Nice try, Nathan," Luna said with a questionable look on her face, "but that's about as helpful as washing a window with mud."

"We still need you to run as fast as you can."

"That's what I'm planning to do." The she-wolf went to the stairs to the next floor, followed by Nathan and Aku-Aku.

Once on the third floor of the temple, the trio ran passed the eletrically jolts as they tried to reach the stairs that was on the other side of the floor. Luna took no chances with Nathan and much to Nathan's embarrassment, the werewolf in her full human form picked Nathan up, put his stomach onto her shoulder and ran in near-lightning speed. Aku-Aku just followed the man-carrying she-wolf to the other side of the room.

"Luna, can you put me down?" Nathan asked once he with Luna and Aku-Aku where at the other side of the room.

"Oops." The werewolf said as she returned Nathan to the floor in the upright position.

"Thanks." Nathan said to Luna, who in turn said, "No prob. It helps when you're astraphobic."

"Indeed." Aku-Aku said as the two humans started to climb that floor's ascending staircase and reach the fourth floor of the temple.

Upon reaching the floor, which looked like the floor was painted red-brown, Luna gave a warning to her companions about the last floor that is filled with traps.

"Okay, guys, this is the final trail before we can get Agni's relic. And, boy, it's one heck of a doozy!"

"How bad is it?" Nathan asked, forgetting that Luna knew what was laying ahead for them.

"That depends on the time of the day." The werewolf answered the question by plucking a strand of her brown hair and held it out to the open air. The strand flew in the air for a moment before it was fried, leaving some ash and a foul odor of brunt hair in the air.

"Still daytime." Luna nearly cussed, knowing that it would take a few hours for the sun to set and hours more before they would be able to trek on the floor. Then, she added, "We need to get passed that red-hot floor!"

"Maybe there is a way..." Aku-Aku stated thoughtfully, causing Nathan and Luna to turn their attention to the ancient mask.

Then, a familiar voice rang out to the group, and it was coming from the wristwatch-like commuicator on Nathan's wrist.

_"Nathan? Luna? Aku-Aku? Can you guys hear me?"_

"Coco?" Nathan and Luna asked in unison as the male answered the call.

"What is it, Coco?"

_"Good thing you answered, Nathan!"_ Coco's voice rang out to the ears of the group, _"It's terrible here at the Wumpa Islands! There's a buildup of lava, and if we don't stop it soon, there's going to be an explosion that'll destory everything on the island!"_

"That's not good." The werewolf said to her allies, who agreed with her; Aku-Aku nodded at her, and Nathan said, "It never is, Luna." Then, he turned to the watch and asked Coco, "Do you guys start evacuating the others?"

_"Yes! We've started, and some of them did go, but most of the others wouldn't go unless Crash went down there!"_

"That's not good either!" Luna gasped before she heard Coco's say, _"This time, Crash said, 'no,' because he believes that the mined-out tunnels would take a while before the magma would be able to reach the open air."_

"The old mines." Nathan said, as remebered the first time the bandicoot that he called friend went into the mines that Neo Cortex had dugged out to help fuel his dirigible and his castle's power.

_"I know that's true, because I've asked Koala Kong."_ Coco said to confirm Nathan's curiosity.

"That's good to hear." The werewolf said in a somewhat relieved voice, earning a glare from Nathan, which caused Luna to say in an asking manner, "What?"

"We're getting the relic right now!" Nathan announced to the unseen bandicoot, who said, _"That's wonderful news! Please get back as soon as you guys can!"_

"Will do!" Nathan said, "Over and out."

Then, Nathan looked at Luna, who was giving him an odd look at what he said, but the male did not know that, which caused him to say, "What?"

"Now," the colorful mask spoke up once more, "we must cross that floor."

"Hey!" Luna shouted out, surprising Nathan a little, "Aku-Aku, remember when we were in Greenland, and I almost got all wet, and you placed yourself on my face, which protected me from getting wet and cold?"

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" The mask asked the werewolf, who said, "Yep!"

Then, the mask flew onto Luna's face, and an invisible force surrounded Luna, who bravely took a step onto the sun-baked floor. Upon stepping onto the metal floor and sensing no heat or pain, Luna sighed in relief before she ran across the floor and to the other side of the room-floor and the stairs.

"Good job!" Nathan shouted at the fused duo, "Now, get the relic before it's too late."

Luna nodded, causing Aku-Aku's feathers to wave a little before the united twosome climbed the stairs.

Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Luna and Aku-Aku saw the relic and advanced towards it.

"The Sword of Agni..." An awestruck Luna gasped at the blade after she pulled it out of its sheath by the gauntlet/helt of the blade.

_"That is an impressive blade." _Aku-Aku's voice rang into Luna's mind, _"We must return to nathan and the Wumpa Islands and soon!"_

"When you're right," Luna confessed to the mask, "you're right. Let's go."

Soon, Aku-Aku and Luna, who were seperated after crossing the red-hot floor, started their descent in the tower, getting Nathan along the way and revisiting all of the traps that the trio had encounted earlier. Oddly enough for them, the way down was easier than the way up.

Once at the first floor, the group exited the inner sanctum and started towards the exit, but a screaming voice rang out, which frozen Nathan and Luna in their tracks.

"I want entrance to the inner sanctum and access to the relic!"

Nathan and Luna looked at each other in a panic and said in a shocked unison, "It can't be!"

The two friends ran to the temple's entrance and saw a petite female of the human race with curly blonde hair and wearing a khaki attire, which included a safari helmet and a pink, sink ascot. Seeing this girl, both Nathan and Luna tried to return to the inner sanctum, but the blonde-haired girl saw that and called to them, commanding them by saying, "Halt!"

Aku-Aku was confused about the situation, and he was going to ask about the girl, but Luna shouted at him, saying, "No time! Come on!"

"Get back here!" Screeched the pursuing female, who pushed the priests out of her way as she went after the trio.

As Nathan and his friends ran from the female blonde, the young genius pressed a button on the wristwatch and pointed the hand that had the watch to the deadend that the trio found themselves, which activated a blue portal on the wall.

"Time for a dive!" Luna shouted as she leaped into the portal first, followed by Aku-Aku.

Nathan was the last to enter the vortex, which closed after that leap. The blonde girl only saw the portal vanished, just missing the trio by seconds. Upon seeing the portal close in front of her, the pursuing female freed a scream that was so loud that it caused every bird within a five yard radius to fly off to escape the source of the yell.


	8. Chapter 8

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Eight

As soon as the trio found themselves in the portal room with the Sword of Agni, Aku-Aku turned to Nathan and Luna with a questioned and stern face and asked them a single question: "Who was that girl back there?"

Nathan and Luna looked at each other, as if they were speaking in a telepathic level, which was extremely rare for the both of them, and then the twosome looked at the ancient mask and answered: "Phoebe."

"PHOEBE!?" A shout echoed in the room, and the owner of the voice, which was Brio, entered the room in a panic, "She's here!?"

"False alarm, Brio." Luna sighed out, recalling what Phoebe had done to the older scienist, which caused her to shake in mild fear.

"What are you doing here, Brio?" Nathan asked his ally, who reverted back to his suttering habit, which only happens when we was fearful.

"I-I-I was help-p-ping Crash and-d-d Coco get-t-t the oth-th-thers off the-the island!"

"Poor dude," Luna said upon hearing the man's return to the old reaction to nervousness and fear, "you don't have to worry about her, Phoebe's not here."

"I-I-I hope s-s-so!" The odd-looking doctor said in a nervous huff before Crash and Coco made their entrace into the room.

"Nathan!" Crash shouted out as his younger sister yelled gleefully, "Luna!"

"Yes," the she-werewolf announced to the Bandicoots in a mock-regal manner, "it is us."

"Ha ha, Luna." The elder brother shook his head at the joke; Luna had practiced her jokes far too often on the islands.

"Luna," Coco spoke to the werewolf, "it's about the old mines!"

"You've already told us about them." Luna announced, causing Crash to look at his sister in an confused look on his face as he asked, "What's Luna talking about?"

"Nuttin'" Coco answered quickly, too quickly as Crash noticed the speed of the reply, and he was not the only one who noticed it.

"Nathan, was it Coco's voice we'd heard over the communicator?" Luna spoke with a sly tone in her voice, which Nathan was quick to respond.

"Luna, it was, but now's not the time for causing mischief on our friends, when they and everyone else is sitting on a volcano."

Luna's response to the statement was a shrug of her shoulder's and her tongue's tip appearing on her lips; she could see why Nathan was so tense about the situation, but she wanted to have some fun before going off to fight Crunch again.

Taking the Sword of Agni by the gauntlet/hilt, Nathan announced to his group of friends.

"Crash and I are going down to the old mines to face Crunch and the Fire Elemental."

"What!?" Crash shouted out at the human male; apparently, the male Bandicoot was not expecting his best friend to drag him into another battle against Crunch Bandicoot, and he added, "Why me?!"

"Simple," the dark-haired boy replied frankly, "Cortex sent Crunch to destory you. Also, he might not be expecting a friend to be at your side."

"Then again, Crunch could be." Luna injected her thoughts into the conversation, "After all, I'd ambushed Crunch and the Water Elemental earlier. I'm doubtful that the robo-armed coot's gonna make things easy for any of us."

"The more so to _not_ to send me down there." The vermillion-furred bandicoot pointed why he did not want to go to the mines.

"Nice try, Crash." Luna, the werewolf, said with an oddly stern tone in her normally lighthearted voice, "You're going, whether you like it or not."

"Aw, man!" Groaned the male of the Bandicoot siblings with an extreme dislike of the idea of facing Crunch again.

"Come on!" Nathan spoke to his closest friend and ally, "The sooner we fight off Crunch and the Fire Elemental, the sooner we can rest for a bit before facing the Air Elemental."

"Gee, Nathan..." Crash moaned out his displeasure, "You sure can make me feel real bad about the outcome."

"Let's go." Nathan said as he pushed the reluctant Bandicoot to the underground man-made caves that Crash had once battled Koala Kong in years ago.

Once at the mouth of the cave that led to the underground mines, Crash and Nathan heard the voice of Luna from the human's wrist.

"What is it?" The human asked into his watch-like communicator.

_"It's Luna, Nathan."_ The she-werewolf's voice rang out, _"Coco's just came up with an idea to help us fight off Crunch and the Fire Elmental."_

"That's good news to me." Crash grinned for a moment before the smiled faded upon hearing the werewolf say, _"Of course, it's going to make Crash really sad that he can't back out of it."_

Nathan chuckled as he saw Crash's face morphed to a sad expression, knowing that Crash would not like being laughed at in his moment of disappointment and despair. However, he could not help himself.

"What's the idea?" Crash asked in an annoyed tone, since Nathan was having a hard time trying to speak into the 'watch.'

* * *

In the part of the mines that was not overflowing with magma that was close enough to light the area by the molten rock river, a certain Bandicoot was waiting for a certain foe. The Elemental mask was not happy about waiting for their opponents, and he expressed it strongly and vocally.

"Why are we waiting around for some marsupial, when we could encase the whole cursed island in hot lava!?"

"Then, the furball could escape, and I'm not about to get another chewing out by Doctor Cortex." The burly bandicoot announced gruffly at Py-Ro and expressing his fury at having been forced into fighting Crash Bandicoot with another mask.

Crunch strongly believed that he could dispatch Crash Bandicoot without the aid of the Elementals, and he expressed it thoroughly and in every way he could think of. However, Neo Cortex, who was rarely consistant with mostly anything, managed to stand his ground against Crunch's complaints and he demanded that the bandicoot with the robotic arm use the masks, since they were an important part of the plan.

"Hold it right there!" A command was shouted out to Py-Ro and Crunch, who was in his thoughts when the yell was made, causing the mismatched duo to turn to the direction of the yell, where they saw Crash and Nathan, who was holding Agni's Sword.

"So, you're the bandicoot that Cortex has been complaining about." The fire-decorated mask mused at the sight of Crash, "Not to metion, the one responsible for defeating two of my brethren. And here, I was thinking you were as big and tough as Crunch here."

"Well, I'm not." Crash responded to the statement made by Py-Ro, who continued to speak.

"You better hope that fur of yours is fire-proof, because I'm going to roast you alive!"

Then, Py-Ro flew onto Crunch's face and infused the burly bandicoot's body with the power over fire, heat and molten rock.

"Now," the mask's manic voice blended with Crunch's, "it's time to burn off you ticks!"

Flaming with heat and fury, Py-Ro used Crunch's body to attack Crash and Nathan, who managed to dodge the intense heat and flames. This continued for a few more attacks before the Fire Elemental stopped attacking and started gloating at the duo.

"This is the best of this prison's residents? And I have been so hoping to deep-fry you so-called heroes."

"Don't count the chickens that you're planning to fry before they hatch, you bully!"

The sudden announcement caused the possessed form of Crunch Bandicoot to turn around, and the Elemental of fire saw Coco Bandicoot in a robot that looked like it was out of a sci-fi horror film, which Nathan noticed as he said to Crash, "I'm going to have a long talk with about her choices in movies."

"Nathan," Crash spoke up in Luna's defense, "Luna _hates_ horror movies."

"How are you so sure?"

"She hid behind me when we saw one a couple of months ago, and she's a werewolf."

Hearing this new set of facts, Nathan was not about to change his mind about having discussion about the movies, but his target was changed from one female to another.

Coco, in the meanwhile, was fighting with the fused form of the Elemental and Cortex's lastest creature in the robot she based off of a movie, and the Elemental seemed to be winning the fight.

"Ha!" Mocked Py-Ro as he saw victory within reach, "You should have left the island when you had the chance, you little furball!"

"Don't think that you've won just yet!" Coco barked back as she aimed one of the robotic arms at the fused being.

Then, the arm shot out water, which splashed Py-Ro, causing the fire and lava being to literally stream and scream from the reaction.

"Nathan, now!" The younger of the Bandicoot siblings shouted at the ex-heir of the Cortex bloodline, who took immediate action with the relic of fire.

Jumping into the air to land on the robot's offensive arm and pushing off of the metal arm, Nathan leaped up with Sword of Agni, and as he allowed gravity to make him fall, the human pierced the area where Py-Ro was fused with Crunch. Nathan heard a blood-curdling cry of angiush from the Fire Elemental before being sent flying backwards and right into Crash, who had failed to escape from being hit by his best friend.

"Ow!" Coco whinced upon seeing the collision of the two males.

As she turned away from the painful sight, she saw the defeated Crunch covered with a red-orange aura. Recalling the glow, she turned back to Crash and Nathan, and she saw the fire relic engulfed with the same glow as the fallen Bandicoot.

"That doesn't look good." Coco meeked to herself as she saw the aura vanish from the sword as Nathan recovered from his dazed state from impacting into Crash.

"Next I plan on doing something like what I'd just did, just remind me _NOT_ to do it again!" Nathan told the Bandicoots as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"I don't think the reminder is the most important thing right now!" Crash pointed out verbally as he saw Crunch recovered from his end of the forceful push.

"Uh, oh..." Coco said upon seeing the fury in Crunch's dark green eyes, which was seen by the males as well.

"Now, I'm really gonna get it ya!" A fury-fueled superweapon of Neo Cortex announced to the trio, but mainly Crash, who unintentionally entered the angry Bandicoot's sights.

Coco was not ready to lose her only family to the fury of an underling of Cortex, so she aimed the robot's water gun and fired it. However, the water missed its intented target, when Crunch dodged the near-formless bullet, which turned the bandicoot with the robotic arm's attention towards her!

"Coco!" Crash exclaimed upon seeing Crunch's reaction to the blonde bandicoot's attempt to stop the burgundy cyborg.

In one jump, the orange bandicoot charged at Crunch, who was hit with a very unexpected fist to the face. The punch that the larger Bandicoot received sent Crunch a few steps back and out of his rage, which was not expected from the trio.

"Now, that was unexpected." Nathan announced bluntly; he knew that Crash was very protective about his younger sister, but this was not only the first time Coco was very in danger of actually being harmed by one of Cortex's men, it was also the first time that Crash had seen Coco in actual danger. Thus, the reaction of Crash, who was usually more concerned about his next snack or nap, was unexpected by Nathan and his sister, including Crash himself.

"Luna's never gonna believe this!" Coco declared, not even believing her own eyes at what she saw.

Then, a groan caused the threesome of friends turn to the direction of Crunch Bandicoot, who was rising to his feet as he spat out a small mixture of blood and saliva. The red-brown brute wiped off the residue from the reddish mixture from his mouth with his organic left hand before he said, "I see... Looks like I've got you all wrong, Crash."

The teenaged male bandicoot gulped loudly as he saw Crunch's forming grin, which was as dark as his tone of voice as the brute continued to speak.

"You're stronger than you look, I'll give you that much. I hope the next time we meet, you'll bring your fighting spirit; I'll be bringing mine."

Then, a light surrounded the brute of a bandicoot and vanished him the larger marsupial, leaving the trio both worried and a little confused.

* * *

Returning to Luna and Aku-Aku via portal, which was operated by the werewolf, Nathan, Crash and Coco told the awaiting human about what happened in the old mines, from the start of the battle to Crunch's announcement to Crash about the next time the two Bandicoots would meet. As soon as the the tale was done, Luna took a few moments to process and filter the story before she spoke.

"It sounds like that things are getting more interesting by the mission. Also, that Crunch is more willing to wait until the next time that him and Crash come face to face again."

"I don't wanna face Crunch again!" Crash strongly protested the werewolf's statement.

"Sorry, Crash." Aku-Aku stated, still processing the story's details in his mind, "But Crunch was made to destory you, if not also the world as we know it."

"Also, it helps us to keep the superweapon distracted long enough to stab the Elementals." Luna stated as she whirled the Earth relic, the Staff of Saratahiko-Okami, in her hand.

"Well," Nathan looked at Luna, "you better get ready for the final temple and whatever troubles await you during and after the trip."

"I can." Grinned the friendly werewolf at Nathan, who rolled his eyes at Luna, after she added, "I better hope you're ready for my and Aku-Aku's return."


	9. Chapter 9

Crash Bandicoot 4: The Wrath of Cortex

Retold by Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Nine

As Luna and Aku-Aku were exiting the portal, the werewolf was sent to the muddy ground by something that landed on her back. The ancient mask looked at Luna, who moaned in pain that would soon subside, and then he turned his attention to the thing the hit the brunette human's back, which greatly surprised him.

"Coco!" Gasped the guardian on the Wumpa Islands, "What are you doing here!?"

"I was-" The youngest of the Bandicoots tried to answer, but Luna was quick to recover from being landed on and got to her feet, causing Coco to flip over onto the ground.

"Coco," Luna turned to the female bandicoot with a neutral face, "that hurt."

"Sorry." The sister of Crash looked at Luna with a sincere face, and then she became serious and announced her thoughts, "I wanted to come! Crash got to go and Nathan too!"

Luna's face allowed a smile on her face as she said, "You're right, Coco. I'm really sorry about that. Forgive me?"

The blonde pre-teenish female looked up Luna in a mild shock, and she quickly recovered to say with a half-smug grin, "Sure."

Forgiven and pleased to the answer from Coco, the she-wolf offered a hand to the she-bandicoot, who was still sitting on the ground when the hand of her friend entered her eyesight. Luna's smile became wider, when Coco took her hand, and the werewolf helped the Bandicoot to her feet.

"Thanks, Luna."

Then, Coco looked at her current location and saw surprised at what she saw: plantlife not unlike that of her home, a wide river that rushed at her right, the animals that were in the trees and a mountain that was in front of the group's eyesights.

"Where are we?" The wide, green-eyed pre-teen asked her friend, who answered in a simple statement: We're in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, home of the Amazon Rainforest and Pico da Neblina, or Mist Peak."

Coco's eyes became even larger as she turned to Luna in a whirl and yelled out, "We're in South America!"

"Shh!" The brunette human placed her index finger in front of her own mouth, before she added in a whisper, "Not so loud, girl. If the Yanomami hear us, we can just forget about getting the Dagger of Quetzalcoatl."

Greatly confused, Coco asked her female ally, "Who's the Yanomami?"

With a heavy sigh, Luna had a desire to explain to the young Bandicoot about the tribe that lived in that area of the country of Brazil, but there was a need to reach the mountain before the final Elemental's winds blow onto the Wumpa Islands. Quickly, the she-werewolf picked up Coco and put the Bandicoot on her -Luna's- back.

"What's going on?" Coco asked in a slightly nervous voice as she saw Luna's body starting to change to her lupine-like form.

"I'm just making sure we get there before the Ynomami get to us." The werewolf answered in a half-gruff voice. Then, Luna turned to Aku-Aku and said, "Aku-Aku, try to keep up with me."

"I will." The mask with the colorful feathers nodded as the werewolf completed her transformation.

Once she was completely and physically transformed, Luna said to the youngest member of the group, "Hold on tight, Coco. It's gonna get fast and windy."

"Right!" Coco nodded as she wrapped her arms around Luna's neck before saying, "I'm ready."

With a serious look on her face, Luna went to hands and feet and ran off towards the mountain that rested in the renowed Amazon Jungle as Coco held on to her, and Aku-Aku managed to keep up with the speedy canine-like human.

As Luna sped through the jungle, the animals that lived in the rainforest were spooked by Luna's speed. The natives that lived there never learned of the trio had been in their home. Once at the base of the mountain, Luna climbed the stone surface and hurried her pace, knowing that the sooner they reach the hidden temple of Quetzalcoatl, the sooner they could stop the final Elemental from destorying the islands.

"Luna," Coco gasped a little as she spoke, "the air's thin up here."

"That happens when one is over nine thousand feet above sea level." Luna's breath sounded in need of air as well.

"You're starting to feel it too, huh?" Coco managed to giggle in her weak state due to the lack of oxygen.

"Big time." Luna smiled as she continued to climb the mountain.

"Luna, maybe you should rest for a time." Aku-Aku suggested to the werewolf, who said between gasps of air, "Nope."

The ancient mask shook, like a human shaking their head, knowing that the werewolf was determined to reach their destination before Lo-Lo, the Air Elemental, tried to destroy the Wumpa Islands. At least, he knew that Luna was being stubborn for a good reason.

"Finally!" Luna gasped out upon reaching a cliff that was near the snowy top of Pico da Neblin and before collapsing onto the ground.

Coco, who was also gasping for breath but not as bad as the werewolf, got off of Luna's back and looked at the temple that hardly looked like the pictures of the temples of Quetzalcoatl that she had saw before the trip. It was nothing more than a cliff face.

"Luna, are you sure we're at the temple."

"Yep." Luna responsed in a series of gasps, "Looks are not always what they appear to be, my dear friend."

Then, the brown werewolf went to the facing of the cliff and started sniffing very closely at the stone surface. Upon reaching a part of the surface, Luna halted her search and started pushing on the area. Coco realized that Luna needed some help, so she went to the werewolf's side and started pushing with Luna. The combined forces were just enough to reveal the opening to the temple.

Coco's mind was starting to fade, when she heard some voices that he knew was in another language, but she was affected by the spell of understanding, which allowed her to understand what the voices were saying.

"It's Luna!"

"Artemis Fang's child? Why is she here?"

"Maybe to meet with her father; he's here to refuel our oxygen tanks."

"What of this little one? She's not a werewolf."

"Knowing Luna, this one's a friend of hers."

"Let's get the tanks and the masks."

Coco's mind was slipping out of consciousness, when she felt a rush of air enter her lungs, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"It's good to see you well." A woman's voice grabbed Coco's attention, causing the young Bandicoot to turn to the voice's direction of origin.

The owner of the voice was a woman that was middle-aged with white-silver hair, moon-yellow eyes, and tanned skin. The attire of the moon mystic was modern clothing, but it was more covered than Luna's attire.

"Who are you?" Coco asked, still a little dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

"I'm Metztli, the head priestess of this hidden temple of Quetzalcoatl." The woman answered with a motherly smile on her face and showing the oxygen mask in her hand.

"Mama," a little voice meeked out, "are you going to read me my bedtime story?"

Coco turned to the door and saw a very young boy with dark hair and bright brown eyes in pajamas and holding a stuffed animal in his small arms.

"My child," Metztli spoke to the child in the same voice, "I will, just as soon as I can."

Coco looked at the little boy, who was about to be on the verge of tears, and turned to the boy's mother and said, "Maybe I could tell a story to him?"

"You would?" Metztli asked in a surprised voice. "I don't know if you should: Tecciztecatl is picky about his storytellers."

"That doesn't mean I can't try." The youngest of the Wumpa Island Bandicoots countered, still insisting that she would tell him a story.

"All right..." The boy's mother was unsure about Coco's chances of success with the child, "But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"Understood." The young Bandicoot nodded, willing to try and positive that she would accomplish her self-appointed mission.

As Coco tried to get to her feet, the boy threw his stuff bear at the genetically-altered Bandicoot, who ducked, and the boy's mother caught it.

"Tecciztecatl..." Growled the stern mother, who was unpleased with her child's behavior, "Go to your room, now."

The boy, fearful of his mother's wrath, ran off to his room, and Coco could not help herself from feeling sorry for the boy, who just wanted a bedtime story.

"Hey, take easy on him." Coco said to Metztli, "You did warn me about him wanting certain storytellers."

"I did," the mother confirmed with the Bandicoot, but my son should have never done that to you, espeically since you're Luna's friend."

"Maybe so." Coco was still a little confused about the situation, when the mention of Luna sparked her mind and what she recalled before blacking out.

"Hey, is Luna's dad really here?"

Before Metztli could answer the question, a man's voice roared into the ears of everyone that were in the temple.

"LUNA, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Then, Luna, in human form, entered the room and closed the door right behind her. As quickly as she closed the door, she locked it and sighed deeply, saying, "Dad still thinks I'm just a kid."

"Well," Coco was hesitant to speak at first, but she managed to complete the statement, "aren't you in some ways?"

With a quick look at Coco, Luna admitted, "That's about right, Coco. However, my dad believes me to be a complete child, unwise to the ways of the world and easily fooled by most."

"Oh!" Coco gasped at Luna's words, "I didn't know that."

"I know." Luna confessed to the younger female as she went to her ally's side, "I've never liked involving my friends with my problems.

"And that's something Luna's been doing for years." A man's voice rang into the room, causing the three females to turn towards the door.

In the doorway, there was a man in his early fourties with brown hair, blue eyes and a stern look on his face. His clothes were composed of a dark green shirt and blue jeans, which was not very much different from Luna's attire.

"You're Luna's dad?" Coco asked, a little dumbfounded by the male's stern facial appearance, which the opposite of Luna's normally nonchalant attitude.

"I am." The older man nodded to the younger Bandicoot before saying, "You must be Coco Bandicoot, the sister of Crash."

"You know who I am?" The orange mammal pointed at herself in her shock.

"Luna told me and her mother about the Wumpa Islands." Artemis Fang nodded to confirm with the inquiry of the bandicoot girl.

"Cool!"

"Oh, boy." Luna moaned as she knew that her father was going to talk about how she was supposed to be with her mother and not traversing the world with a boy that he had never met, and she was right.

"Luna's mother is worried to death about her daughter's safety." Artemis started his rant to Coco in a kinder tone than he had used with Luna, "Luna ran off with a boy, who could be a sl-uh- ahem, I mean a very bad man, and she doesn't seem to care."

"Dad," Luna spoke out, "I'm not a little girl anymore, and Nathan's not a 'bad man,' like Phoebe's been telling you; he's better than most of the guys that have tried to hit on me."

"I'll believe it when I see it!" The stubborn father of Luna announced to his daughter, who said in response, "Fine, you'll meet him and see for yourself then!"

"Fine!"

Coco turned to Metztli and asked a question: "Have those two always been like this?"

"Only when the subject of any form of conversation were about boys." The mothely pristess answered with a deep sigh of annoyance from the disagreement between Luna and Artemis.

Sometime after Luna and her father made the 'agreement' to see Nathan, Coco and Luna found Aku-Aku, and the three were led by Metztli to the way to the relic that belonged to Quetzalcoatl thousand of years ago.

"Here we are." Metztli announced to the trio, "Do you expect the final trap to be so easy to escape from?"

"I just hope that I can, that's all." Luna grinned at the priestess, who showed a very disapproving frown to the brunette girl, causing Luna to ask, "What?"

"Luna," the sister of Crash Bandicoot spoke out, "let's go."

"Right..." The werewolf of the trio agreed, adding to her own statement, "Let's get into some warmer winds."

"Warmer winds?" The blonde bandicoot asked, which Luna answered by saying, "I'll explain it to you later."

Entering the cavern, the three started off slowly. Then, Luna stopped and changed into her werewolf form, made Coco climb onto her back again and ran off, setting off many of the traps that were down in the path to the relic's resting place.

Finally, they've reached the area, where Quetzalcoatl's dagger was laying in wait to fullfill its purpose, like its sibling relics before it.

"It's a blue dagger!" Coco pointed out to the she-wolf, as she removed herself from Luna's back.

"It's actually the color turquoise," a gruff-sounding Luna the werewolf answered in a semi-corrective tone, "and the blade is made of volcanic glass, or obsidian."

"Cool." Coco said as she rushed over to claim to the dagger as the group's prize, but Luna was more cautious and said, "Be careful; I don't know what kind of trap the ancients Aztecs built into this place."

"I will." The young Bandicoot said with a confindent grin on her youthful face.

Then, she grabbed the glass dagger and picked it up slowly. When nothing happened, Coco sounded out a cheer, "Yeah! We did it!"

Then, the earth started to shake and rumble, causing Luna to say in a semi-concerned and a semi-srcastic voice, "Yeah, we really did it."

"Run!" Aku-Aku shouted out, which the females complied without any questions about the choose he made.

Coco retured to Luna's back, and the werewolf dashed off on all fours in the attempt to escape the trap that was set off. Aku-Aku led the way back as the three of them ran past the traps that they failed to set off.

Soon, the trio ran out of the cavern, causing Metztli to back off from the entrance of the cavren. Luna quickly removed Coco off of her back and threw the Bandicoot to her father, Artemis, who was to catch Coco.

"Luna!" The four people that was the brunette's family, friends and allies shouted out as several poisonous darts flew out of the entrance of the cave and flew at Luna.

Luna had her back against the stone wall, when the darts entered her eyesights. Quickly, the werewolf with brown fur managed to dodge every single of those dart, but it was just barely; by inches, the darts missed Luna's flesh.

"That was WAY too close!" Luna announced in a vernacular that did not match the gruffness of the werwolf's voice as she peeled herself off the wall, causing Coco to giggle a little, and Aku-Aku grinned at the sight of the usually calm Luna in a panicked state of mind.

Artemis ran to the transformed girl that was his only child and embraced her, saying, "Honey, are you all right?"

"I'm right, Dad," Luna's werewolfish face blushed as she spoke to the man that was hugging her midsection, "but you could've waited after I've returned to my human form before you hugged me."

The mask, the bandicoot and the priestess laughed out and so hard that they fell to the floor, unable to stand on their feet.

Looking at her friends on the floor in a hard laugh, Luna looked at the priestess, who was in the same postition as Coco and Aku-Aku were in, and then she looked at her father, who was still hugging her. Seeing this, there was only one thing Luna could say about her current situation.

"At least, I'm in a place that it's normal for a full grown man to embrace a werewolf without any fear towards it."


End file.
